SUNDOWN IN SHOTLEY WOOD 233 



uncontrollable love of sport is as excited as a boy. 

 They have dropped the ceremonious " Mister " of East 

 Anglian address, and for the moment have forgotten 

 that the world contains anything but themselves, the 

 hapless rabbit in the bury, and the ferret at the end of 

 the line. " Eddard," says the bailiff ; " Eddard, I can 

 hear it a-scrabbin' ! " " Can you ? " replies the rabbiter. 

 " Do you cop me your ' dabber.' ' The " dabber," an 

 implement with a spade at one end and a spike at the 

 other, is " copped " and dexterously caught. " Do you 

 fudge him a bit," urges the rabbiter ; and the bailiff 

 " fudges " vigorously. Then the ferret is withdrawn. 

 " Lor' bless me, if I hain't been a-fudging the ferret ! " 

 he exclaims ; and the ill-used and gasping ferret is 

 exhibited. " Oh, ah ! " says the rabbiter, " we'd best 

 go back, I reckon." And the pair wind up nets and 

 bags, and splash home through the mud. They are 

 almost the last to leave the open fields, and as we enter 

 the high wood the sounds of daily human labour die 

 with the waning light when the plough-teams, with 

 looped-up splinter-bars banging against the trace-chains, 

 plod homewards to the stables. The grey light wanes 

 and the wind rises, angry and sighing in the tree-tops. 

 A wide avenue of Scotch firs runs down the length of 

 the wood. The ride is still strewn thick with acorns, 

 for this has been the most prolific year ever known for 

 the seeds of trees ; the husks are already splitting here 

 and there, and the red shoots are sprouting from the 

 pointed end ; but many are mere crackling shells 

 nibbled by squirrels and mice. The wood-pigeons 



