UNDER THE ACORNS 



COMING along a woodland lane, a small round and 

 glittering object in the brushwood caught my atten- 

 tion. The ground was but just hidden in that part 

 of the wood with a thin growth of brambles, low, and 

 more like creepers than anything else. These scarcely 

 hid the surface, which was brown with the remnants 

 of oak-leaves; there seemed so little cover, indeed, 

 that a mouse might have been seen. But at that 

 spot some great spurge-plants hung this way and 

 that, leaning aside, as if the stems were too weak to 

 uphold the heads of dark-green leaves. Thin grasses, 

 perfectly white, bleached by the sun and dew, stood in 

 a bunch by the spurge; their seeds had fallen, the 

 last dregs of sap had dried within them, there was 

 nothing left but the bare stalks. A creeper of 

 bramble fenced round one side of the spurge and 

 white grass bunch, and brown leaves were visible 

 on the surface of the ground through the interstices 

 of the spray. It was in the midst of this little 

 thicket that a small, dark, and glittering object 

 caught my attention. I knew it was the eye of some 

 creature at once, but, supposing it nothing more than 

 a young rabbit, was passing on, thinking of other 

 matters, when it occurred to me, before I could finish 

 the step I had taken, so quick is thought, that the 

 eye was not large enough to be that of a rabbit. 

 I stopped; the black glittering eye had gone the 

 creature had lowered its neck, but immediately 



