n8 THE OUTLAW 



faint trumpet-like call. He knew the call 

 well, for many times had he and his mate 

 preyed upon the wild duck in the Devon 

 estuary opposite Lundy Island. 



The next moment he had gone through 

 the trees, a swift shadow. A little vole 

 splitting a beechmast on the ground below 

 crouched in terror. For everything preyed 

 upon its kind. The weasel came by day, 

 and in summer the grass snake; if it left 

 the wood and went to the meadow there 

 was the poised kestrel hawk; in the furrows 

 a fox sometimes ran, snapping at the tiny 

 mice ; in the dark night came the great 

 wood owl, and that white devil, the barn 

 owl. 



The mouse crouched in terror, but he 

 passed on, a swift shadow : he was a noble 

 bird, and did not take rodents. 



Seven duck had flighted, and were going 

 towards the reaches of the Thames. They 

 flew fast and steadily, at fifty miles an 

 hour. The passing narrow shadow became 



