CHAPTER II 

 A HARE DRIVE 



THERE had been a fall of snow. The hills and 

 high ground were deeply covered. Then 

 came a thaw for two days, wherein all the 

 snow disappeared from the low ground, while 

 the hills remained patchy white. A hare 

 drive up on the " forest " was now declared 

 possible. The blue or mountain hares were 

 to be the quarry. Hardy animals they are, 

 with their winter coats of fluffy white, trim- 

 med with touches of blue-grey. Eyes dark 

 and lustrous in their snow faces. Lovers 

 of hills, fearless of cold. No true mountain 

 hare seeks the shelter of the valleys, only the 

 degenerate do so in the severest weather, and 

 of those very few. 



The morning was grey, mild, and calm. At 

 ten the hour of starting, it was full of promise 



'3 



