MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



now the heir-general and residuary legatee 

 of all heathen gods deceased, be they late or 

 early ; he has come into titular ownership of 

 their entire property. A steep pa'th leads 

 zigzag down the side of the escarpment into 

 the bowl-shaped hollow ; at its bottom a tiny 

 stream oozes out in a spring as limpid as 

 Bandusia. Water lies in the rock, indeed, 

 at about two hundred and fifty feet below 

 the surface of the moor, to which depth we 

 have, accordingly, to sink our wells on the 

 hilltop ; and it is at about the same level 

 that the springs gush forth which form the 

 headwaters of our local rivers.^ 



When we came upon the brook, as good 

 luck would have it, a couple of farm labourers, 

 in their workaday clothes, regardless of the 

 Sabbath, lay at full length upon the bank, 

 engaged in the picturesque, if not strictly 

 legal, occupation of tickling trout. The 

 boys were, of course, delighted ; they had 

 never seen the operation performed before, 

 and were charmed at its almost mesmeric 

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