Traitors on the Gibbet 87 



about the ash stoles in the most circuitous manner— 

 now to avoid the thistles, now a bramble thicket, or 

 a hollow filled with nettles. Then the ash poles were 

 clothed with the glory of the woodbine — one mass of 

 white and yellow wax-like flowers to a height of eight 

 or nine feet, and forming a curtain of bloom from 

 branch to branch. 



After awhile I became aware that the trail was 

 approaching the hill. At the foot it branched ; and 

 the question arose whether to follow the fork that zig- 

 zagged up among the thickets or that which seemed to 

 plunge into the recesses beneath. I had never been 

 in this wood before — the time was selected because 

 it was probable that the keeper would be extremely 

 occupied with his pheasant chicks. Though the earth 

 was so hard in the exposed rick-yard, here the clayey 

 ground was still moist under the shadow of the leaves. 

 Examining the path more closely, I easily distinguished 

 the impression of the keeper's boot : the iron toe-plate 

 has left an almost perfect impression, and there were 

 the deep grooves formed by the claws of his dog as 

 it had scrambled up the declivity and the pad slipped 

 on the clay. 



As he had taken the upward path, no doubt it 

 led direct to the pheasants, which were sure to be on 

 the hill itself, or a dry and healthy slope. I therefore 



