The First Gun 



the mouth of the hole. There was the carcass of a 

 dead rabbit inside no doubt. 



A humble-bee wandering along — they are restless 

 things — buzzed right under my hat, and became 

 entangled in the grass by my ear. Now we knew by 

 experience in taking their honey that they could 

 sting sharply if irritated, though good-tempered by 

 nature. How he ' burred ' and buzzed and droned ! — 

 till by-and-by, crawling up the back of my head, he 

 found an open space and sailed away. Then, looking 

 out again, there was a pair of ears in the grass not 

 ten yards distant : a rabbit had come out at last. But 

 the first delight was quickly over : the ears were short 

 and sharply pointed, and almost pinkly transparent. 



What would the shepherd say if I brought home 

 one of his hated enemies no bigger than a rat } The 

 young rabbit made waiting still more painful, being 

 far enough from the hedge to get a clear view into 

 the recess if anything attracted his notice. Why the 

 shepherd hated rabbits was because the sheep would 

 not feed where they had worn their runs in the grass. 

 Not the least movement was possible now — not even 

 that little shifting which makes a position just endur- 

 able : the heat seemed to increase ; the thought of 

 Ulysses could hardly restrain the almost irresistible 

 desire to stir. 



