WINTR Y DA YS 265 



from the grass on the far side of the road, rubbed 

 his eyes for a moment, looked this way and that, 

 and then crossed the road by a succession of great 

 leaps. Arrived at the other side, he paused before 

 a thick growth of grass which offered no passage. 

 He did not notice the human observer not more 

 than six feet distant ; but he understood the diffi- 

 culty of the situation, and with a bound nearly a 

 foot high, he sprang right into the midst of the 

 grass ; with another effort he gained the dry ditch, 

 and sped along it out of sight. 



That little episode was more pleasing to re- 

 member than all the tameness of a captive. What 

 though a hawk or an owl might have seen that 

 rash venture across the road, and have swooped ? 

 They would have been swift if sure ; and so would 

 stoat or weasel. Man, with cruel prison, was not 

 less fatal. He merely delayed the final moment 

 with misery. 



Above the mouse-haunted grasses stood the 

 wraith of an autumn plant a white brittle stem 

 supporting dry relics of a blossom. Now it has 

 fallen, soon to be crushed into the mire. Yet this 



