202 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



jutted out into the yellow-green sea of grass. 

 Off to the left, some hundred yards or so 

 away, ran a line of round-topped dyke, with 

 a few stiff mullein stalks fringing its crest. 

 Beyond the dyke, and long ago reclaimed by 

 it from the sea, lay basking in the sun the 

 vast expanses of sweet-grass meadow, blue- 

 green with timothy, clover, and vetch, and 

 hummed over by innumerable golden-belted 

 bumble-bees. Through this sweet meadow 

 wound the slow curves of a placid and brim- 

 ming fresh-water stream, joining itself at last 

 to the parent river through an abat-d'eaux in 

 the dyke, whose sunken valves protected it 

 completely from the fluctuation of the tides. 



The dividing line between the tall, waving, 

 yellow salt-grass and the naked mud-flat was 

 as sharp as if cut by a dyker's spade, and it 

 was fringed by a close brown tangle of grass 

 roots, which seemed to feel outwards over 

 the baked mud and then curl back upon 

 themselves in apprehension. Close to the 

 foot of the mouldering post, where this fringe 

 half encircled it, appeared suddenly a pointed 

 brownish head, with tiny ears and a pair of 

 little, bright, bead-like eyes set very close 

 together. The head was thrust cautiously 

 forth from the mouth of a narrow tunnel 

 under the grass roots. The sharp overhung 



