294 PARTRIDGES 



backwater of life ; little change can there 

 be, one would think, since Royalist and 

 Roundhead camped and fought on the 

 downs above, where a century later the 

 youth of Hampshire did battle on the 

 earliest of cricket grounds. 



In the distance, a line of blue hills tells 

 of a higher sweep of downland, though a 

 fleecy pall of mist still hangs over the 

 ancient capital of England and hides the 

 towers and spires of Wykeham from view. 



" I've seen worse days for the job," is 

 the keeper's grudging acknowledgment 

 to the clerk of the weather, as he takes 

 his way down the lane, through the silent 

 village, to where the smoke of a hidden 

 cottage rises behind a dark patch of wood 

 on the ridge of down beyond. 



As he follows the path through the 

 wood, he stops for a minute before a 

 gnarled and massive oak, surveying with 

 a grim complacency the well -filled 

 'larder' which adorns its trunk. Many 

 a good day's work has gone to fill those 

 ranks of mummies, hard and dry as 



