170 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY. 



whether he had gone for reinforcements, we 

 did not inquire. We instantly lost our interest 

 in birds and birds' nests ; we gathered up our 

 belongings and fled, not stopping to breathe till 

 we had put the barbiest of barbed wire fences 

 between us and the foe. 



Once outside, however, we paused to con- 

 sider : To give up our study was not to be 

 thought of ; to go every day in fear and dread 

 was equally intolerable. I wrote to the author- 

 ities of whom I had purchased the right to enter 

 the place. They promptly denied the existence 

 of any such animal on the premises. I replied 

 to the effect that " seeing is believing," but they 

 reaffirmed their former statement, assuring me 

 that there were none but harmless cows in the 

 glen. I did not want to waste time in an un- 

 profitable correspondence, and I did want to see 

 the wrens, and at last a bright thought came, 

 I would hire an escort, a country boy used to 

 cattle, and warranted not afraid of them. I 

 inquired into the question of day's wages, I 

 looked about among the college students who 

 were working their way to an education, and I 

 found an ideal protector, an intelligent and 

 very agreeable young man, brought up on a 

 farm, and just graduated, who was studying up 

 mathematics preparatory to school-teaching in 

 the fall. The bargain was soon made, and the 



