ON THE MOORS. 187 



grounds for heathery knowes and sheltered valleys 

 and, while the uninitiated wearies his dogs in vain 

 over the hillside, where the birds, hours before, might 

 have been expected, the older sportsman profits by his 

 experience, and seldom fails in discovering the dell or 

 hillock where, in fancied security, the indolent pack 

 is reposing. 



We had been upon the moors some hours our walk 

 was enlivened by success, and the time had arrived when 

 the commissariat was required, and old John's supplies 

 were ordered from the rear. A rivulet was reported to 

 be just round the hill, and thither our course was directed. 



We turned a rugged brow suddenly, and never did 

 a sweeter spot present itself to an exhausted sportsman ; 

 and resting on the bank of a ravine, where a small stream 

 trickled over a precipice, forming beneath its brow a 

 basin of crystal water, we selected this for our " bivouac." 

 Wild myrtle and shrub -like heather closed the opposite 

 sides, and one spot, where the rivulet elbowed back, was 

 covered with short green moss, that seemed rather an 

 effort of human art than a piece of natural arrangement. 



Here we rested and while baskets were unpacked, 

 and the cloth extended upon the velvet surface we 

 reposed upon, I looked with feelings which I cannot 

 describe upon the wild and melancholy scene below. 



It was a ruined chapel and deserted burying-place 

 one gable of the building alone was standing, and, from 

 beneath the ivied wall, a spring gushed out and united 

 itself with the rivulet I have described. A stone cross, 

 whose rude workmanship showed its antiquity, was 

 erected beside the fountain ; and although the cemetery 

 had long since been deserted, a circle round the well 

 was freshly worn in the turf, and a woman at the moment 



