The Amateur Poacher 



us how to get back into the waggon track without 

 returning by the same path. An old barn was the 

 landmark ; and, with a request from him not to 

 break the bushes, he left us. 



Down in the wooded vale we paused. The whole 

 thing was now clear : the hare in the wire was a trap 

 laid for the ' gips,' whose camp was below. The 

 keeper had been waiting about doubtless where he 

 could command the various tracks up the hill, had 

 seen us come that way, and did not wish us to return 

 in the same direction ; because if the ' gip ' saw any 

 one at all he would not approach his snare. Whether 

 the hare had actually been caught by the wire, or 

 had been put in by the keeper, it was not easy to tell. 



We wandered on in the valley wood, going from 

 bush to bush, little heeding whither we went. There 

 are no woods so silent as the nut-tree ; there is 

 scarce a sound in them at that time except the occa- 

 sional rustle of a rabbit, and the 'thump, thump' 

 they sometimes make underground in their buries 

 after a sudden fright. So that the keen plaintive 

 whistle of a kingfisher was almost startling. But we 

 soon found the stream in the hollow. Broader than 

 a brook and yet not quite a river, it flowed swift and 

 clear, so that every flint at the bottom was visible. 

 The nut-tree bushes came down to the edc^e : the 



