HUMPHRIES REAPPEARS. 435 



said : " This is a pretty job ; Mr. Newman has 

 given his men leave to snare all the hares in 

 his standing corn on the farm. I have given 

 him a receipt for it, though — I went and 

 mowed down all his green oats in the honey- 

 suckle field, to pay him out for it." 



"Why," says I, "they'll get the print of 

 your foot in the field, and find you out as sure 

 as you stand there, Humphries. Which way 

 did you come home from the field ? " 



" I crossed Burv Lod2:e Road into Parkfield, 

 then up by the swede turnips and hurdles 

 where the sheep are folded, along Burton End 

 Road to the chaseway, and so to my house by 

 the Hall garden." 



" They will track you to your house, then ? " 



" No, they won't, for the sheep have gone 

 through the chase out of Parkfield, and put 

 the footmarks out. But, as I crossed the road 

 out of Parkfield to the chasewav. three of Mr. 

 Newman's men met me with my scythe on my 

 shoulder as they were going to their work. 



'' Well, Humphries," says I, " those men 

 will be sure to tell their master, when it 



