50 The Amateur Poacher 



and willow the sort that is grown for poles. At 

 that spot the vines of wild hops had killed all 

 the underwood, leaving open spaces between the 

 stoles ; the vines were matted so thickly that they 

 hid the ground. This was too exposed a place, so I 

 went back and farther up till I could just hear Orion 

 rustling through the hemlocks. Here the dead grass 

 and some elder bushes afforded shelter, and the water 

 could be approached unseen. 



It was about six or eight inches deep ; the oppo- 

 site shore was bordered for several yards out with 

 flags and rushes. The cattle nibbled their tender 

 tops off, as far as they could reach ; farther out they 

 were pushing up straight and pointed. The rib and 

 groove of the flag so closely resemble those of the 

 ancient bayonet that it might be supposed the weapon 

 was modelled from the plant. Indoors among the 

 lumber there was a rusty old bayonet that immedi 

 ately called forth the comparison : the modern make 

 seem more triangular. 



The rushes grew nearer the shore of the meadow 

 the old ones yellow, the young green : in places this 

 fringe of rush and sedge and flag must have been five 

 or six yards wide, and it extended as far as could be 

 seen up the brook. No doubt the cattle trod in the 

 edge of the firm ground by degrees every year to get 



