178 OUT OF DOORS. 



selves that nothing white was visible in our dress, and 

 that our sticks were well grasped, for a night walk in 

 the New Forest is not without its perils, the poachers 

 being perhaps the most crafty and desperate set in 

 England. Man or beast, however, the creature passed 

 by, but kept so closely in the shade that we could not 

 even catch a glimpse of its form. Stealing gently to 

 the spot we felt the ground carefully, and soon found 

 the fresh spoor of a cow, which had got into the forest, 

 and instinctively moved as if it were liable to be hunted 

 as soon as seen. 



After a number of experiments we found that 

 nothing is so utterly invisible in a forest at night as 

 darkish grey, but not too dark. Black is seen with 

 comparative ease, red is nearly invisible, and so is 

 brown, but with dark grey the only visible portions are 

 the hands and face, so that a pair of dark gloves and a 

 dark mask would render a human being quite undistin- 

 guishable at two yards, provided he remained in the 

 shade, and did not allow his form to be defined against 

 the sky. 



One night was truly memorable. We had started 

 as usual, when we saw an odd kind of light among the 

 trees for which we could not account. First we thought 

 it was a paper lamp hung up by way of a trick, but 

 soon found that it was far beyond the trees. Surely it 

 must be Capella shining dimly through a fog, but on 

 looking more carefully Capella was discovered without 

 any fogginess about it. Suddenly my companion gave 



