1 5 8 



THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR. 



But what of the cottage door ? Ah ! well, we 

 had forgotten all about it : it shall have another 

 chapter all to itself. 



V. Aiioxo THE CAKP. 



The heat grew snltry and oppressive ; the men 

 laboured mechanically in the hay-fields, the fly- 

 catchers which had been industriously foraging from 

 their stations en the standard-roses, grew tired and 

 quiet. A small black cloud came from over the 

 Wrekin, the rounded crest of which stood out clear 

 and sunny beneath it Speedily the heavens were 

 overcast, and a dark, eerie stillness reigned over 

 the landscape. The forked lightning flashed whitely 

 down to the earth, and redly back again to the 

 clouds ; the heavens opened, and a deluge of rain 

 descended that drove us all indoors. 



From the shelter of the verandah we watched 

 the storm, which awed the most careless of us by 

 its grandeur. The three tall poplars waved white 

 against the gloomy canopy, and trembled under 

 the pealing and crashing of the thunder. The rain 

 beat savagely upon the 'plaining branches, and 

 sprang up again in angry jets from the pools. The 

 birds sat quailing in their nests, or skulked low 

 down in the hedges. The flycatcher sitting on her 

 nest in the verandah let us touch her without 

 moving ; she was so fearful " 



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