THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



183 



some reason for the question. The rustling of yew 

 branches and the shaking of ivy tendrils below us, 

 indicated the whereabouts of Herbert. He had 

 seen a stock-dove fly to a ledge below him, and from 

 her movements suspected that there was a nest 

 there ; so down he went, to the imminent risk of 

 his neck, and presently came up again, clinging to 

 the ivy like a cat, and with two nearly full-grown 

 stock-doves slung in his handkerchief. 



" What are you going to do with those, you 

 naughty boy 1 " quoth the Gipsy. 



"Eat them," replied he laconically ; "I'll cook 

 them myself in the tool-house." 



We sought a steep path that wound delicately 

 around and under a crag, and by its means we 

 reached the foot of the cliff, and plunged at once 

 into a bath of coolness and freshness. 



" There were cool mosses deep, 

 And through the moss the ivies crept ; " 



and as we went down and down, scrambling and 

 falling over stones and tree roots, passing through 

 a forest of the most luxuriant hartstongue ferns we 

 ever saw. From every little crag and mossy bank 

 they waved their long, graceful fronds, and looked 

 so green and damp and cool that it was a feast to 

 the eyes to dwell upon them. As we neared the 

 river, and the woods were moro open, the glades 

 were covered with strawberries, and we picked and 

 ate them greedily. 



