Downs and Dungeons \ 27 



\Yhen they came to the North Downs between 

 Croydon and Reigate, he stopped and looked 

 about him. The fringe of London still seemed 

 there ; he saw villas building, men playing golf, 

 advertisements in the fields. " Better go on," he 

 said to himself; "this is too near London for a 

 damaged linnet" And they slipped rapidly 

 down into a verdant vale of wood and 

 pasture. 



At last they began to mount again. The 

 Ornithologist had avoided the main route, and 

 was ascending the South Downs at a point little 

 known to Londoners. Near the top the hollow 

 road began to be fringed by the burning yellow 

 of the gorse-bloom ; the air grew lighter, and the 

 scent of clean, sweet herbage put new life into 

 man and bird. The Linnet fluttered in his cage 

 with wild uncertain hopes ; but that determined 

 Ornithologist went on wheeling his machine up 

 the hill. 



In a few minutes they came out of the hollow 

 road on to the bare summit of the Down. It 

 was an April day ; the drizzle had given way to 

 bright sunshine and a bracing east wind. Far 



