46 The Amateur Poacher 



to reconnoitre one side of Southlands ; for the stream 

 skirted the lower grounds : the tall willows would 

 conceal any one passing through them. So one spring 

 morning the attempt was made. 



It was necessary to go on hands and knees through 

 the mowing grass for some yards while passing an 

 open space where the blackthorn cover ended, and 

 then to leap a broad ditch that divided the withy-beds 

 from the meadow. The lissom willow wands parted 

 easily and sprang back to their places behind, leaving 

 scarce a trace. Their slender tops rose overhead ; 

 beneath, long dead grasses, not yet quite supplanted 

 by the spring growth, filled the space between. These 

 rustled a little under foot, but so faint a sound could 

 scarcely have been audible outside ; and had any one 

 noticed it it would have been attributed to a hare or 

 a fox moving : both are fond of lying in withy-beds 

 when the ground is dry. 



The way to walk noiselessly is to feel with the 

 foot before letting your weight press on it ; then the 

 dead stick or fallen hemlock is discovered and avoided. 

 A dead stick cracks ; the dry hollow hemlock gives a 

 splintering sound when crushed. These old hemlock 

 stems were numerous in places, together with ' gicksies,' 

 as the haymakers call a plant that resembles it, but 

 has a ribbed or fluted instead of a smooth stalk. The 



