36 DAYS IN DOVE DALE 



using, and I at once told him, for I am not 

 selfish in such matters, that my little " honey dun 

 bumble " had done these deeds, and I advised 

 him to go over to Foster's, of Ashbourne, who 

 would furnish him to his heart's content. 



And now I started homewards; but could 

 one believe it ? that rascally donkey-boy had 

 not left the iron gate open ! What in the name 

 of Izaak am I to do ? I cannot get over it, 

 it is lined with spikes. I cannot get round it, 

 there is a high stone wall, and the water is 

 6 feet deep on one side, and the rock rises 

 abruptly for a hundred feet on the other. I 

 cannot get through it, for how am I, a weak 

 old man, to lift a gate of half a ton ? Why did 

 I not pay more attention to the keeper's in- 

 struction ? Why did I not watch that donkey- 

 boy's " open sesame " ? 



I must puzzle out the secret for myself ; and I 

 did, after endless exertion, find it out. It is very 

 simple when you know how. But I don't intend 

 to betray my friendly keeper's secret not I. 



How I astonished my friends and my neigh- 

 bours, and especially how I aroused the ad- 

 miration not to say the envy of that young 

 fellow and his charming bride, when I dangled 



