Ferreting 205 



give up this scent and to search again for another. 

 • Us must be main careful how us fixes our nets, you,* 

 said Little John, going as far as he could in reproof of 

 my negligence. 



The noise of the gun, the barking, and talking 

 was of course heard by the rabbits still in the bury, 

 and as if to show that Little John was right, for a while 

 they ceased to bolt. Standing behind the bushes — 

 against which I now placed the gun to be nearer at 

 hand — I watched the nets till my eye was caught by 

 the motions of the ferret bag. It lay on the grass 

 and had hitherto been inert. But now the bag reared 

 itself up, and then rolled over, to again rise and again 

 tumble. The ferrets left in it in reserve were eager 

 to get out — sharp set on account of a scanty breakfast 

 — and their motions caused the bag to roll along a 

 short distance. 



I could see Orion on the other side of the mound 

 tolerably well because he was standing up and the 

 leaves had fallen from the upper part of the bushes. 

 Little John was crouched in the ditch : the dead 

 grasses, ' gicks,' withered vines of bryony, the thistles, 

 and dark shrivelled fern concealed him. 



There was a round black sloe on the blackthorn 

 beside me, the beautiful gloss, or bloom, on it made it 

 look like a tiny plum. It tasted not only sour, but 



