OLD MICHAELMAS DAY 291 



he has high hopes of showing such sport 

 as shall more than repay him for the 

 long months of hard work, ceaseless vigil, 

 and many anxieties which have gone 

 before. 



He feels his way up the hedgerow, till 

 he reaches the gateway giving into the 

 lane beyond, where he pauses to light a 

 consoling pipe, and is just going to vault 

 the gate, when some distant sound catches 

 his quick ear, and he stops to listen 

 under shelter of the tall hedge, while 

 the sun breaks through the mist, which 

 streams upward into the still air in 

 fantastic wreath and swirl. 



Many a glimpse of the rarer sides of 

 wild life comes within the keeper's ken 

 as he takes his walks abroad, such time 

 as most honest folks are safely abed. 

 This morning it is the silver grey form 

 of a badger, whose stealthy approach 

 would have escaped the hearing of any 

 but those whose habits of life make them 

 almost uncannily aware of each rustling 

 leaf and its meaning, and who now passes 



