Downs and Dungeons 1 1 7 



and then nothing but misery. Half dead with 

 jolting, shaking, and swaying, we found ourselves 

 at hist in a small close room, where we were 

 taken out and examined one by one, and put 

 into separate small cages, so small that we 

 could hardly turn round in them. The room 

 was full of these cages, and there was a con- 

 tinual noise of hysterical fluttering and sorrowful 

 twittering. None of us cared to talk, and there 

 was nothing but misery to talk about. Seed 

 and water were given us, and we ate and 

 drank a little after a while, but there was no 

 delight in that lukewarm water and that stale 

 seed. 



" But I had better stop : I'm sure you want 

 to sing again. And there is nothing more to 

 tell ; one by one my fellow-captives were taken 

 away, and I suppose what happened to me 

 happened to them too. Caged we all are, and 

 expected to sing, and to forget the Downs and 

 the gorse and the brook and the fresh air! 

 But we don't and we can't, it is the little 

 life left within us, to hope against hope for 

 the Downs again." 



