SPRING AND SUMMER RAMBLES. 33 



flimsy pretences as these I have this year frequently 

 been beguiled to take many a week-end run into the 

 country. 



Then a little later in the month of April I found 

 myself and some members of my family at Worthing. 

 On this occasion I was not on fishing bent. At that 

 time we were in the full enjoyment of splendid sunny 

 weather, and were only just beginning to wonder when 

 rain was coming, for the trees were budding and 

 bursting forth into leaf and bloom, but there was no 

 grass on the face of the fields, which already felt the 

 unusual drought, and it was pitiful to see the poor 

 cattle and sheep wandering disconsolately over the 

 brown close-cropped meadows. We enjoyed our stay at 

 quiet Worthing very much, quite unconscious of the 

 terrible disaster which was then brooding, and which 

 has since smitten that favourite resort. There are 

 many charming walks and drives in that neighbour- 

 hood. One day I wandered over the Downs as far as 

 Chanctonbury Ring, a most picturesque spot, where 

 one gets a grand view of the country looking north- 

 wards and westwards towards Brighton. Here 

 amongst the furze bushes on the sunny little banks I 

 kept a look out for snakes and adders, for this was 

 just the place for them, and this the time when one 

 might expect to see them ; but I saw none. I met an 

 old shepherd who for many years had been monarch 

 of all he surveyed round "the Ring." From him t 

 learnt that the place used to swartn with adders, but 

 he had waged such constant war against them that 

 they may be said practically to be exterminated. He 

 told me that the very best cure for an adder's bite is 

 D 



