222 MELTON AND HOMESPUN 



duffer ought not to have muffed. Raising my rifle to my 

 shoulder I took careful aim at the small yellow mark, 

 and pulled. " Snap ! Ping ! Damn ! " A tiny cloud 

 of grey dust spurts up from under " Sandy's " snowy 

 belly, while " Sandy," more scared than hurt, takes a 

 header into a friendly burrow, and the rest of the bunny 

 family very promptly follow his lead. I do not trouble 

 to reload, knowing full well that neither " Sandy " nor 

 any of " Sandy's " numerous relations will again venture 

 above ground until the light, which is already on the 

 wane, becomes too bad for me to shoot with any degree 

 of certainty. 



"But surely that was a tug at the bait?" Yes, 

 begad ! And it is " The Ogre of the Pool " this time, 

 or I'm very much mistaken. Ah ! he comes to the 

 surface as though about to seek freedom by taking a 

 mighty leap, and for a moment of time I catch a glimpse 

 of his giant proportions. Then, with a wild rush, he 

 runs up stream, and, to my infinite satisfaction, wide 

 of the jagged boulder. Very quickly did " The Ogre " 

 reel out twenty yards or so of line, leaving a swirl behind 

 him like the wash of a miniature torpedo craft. Then 

 he turned, put his helm hard to starboard, and rounded 

 that infernal boulder, and bade me " Good-bye ! " 

 Sadly I bunched together my paraphernalia and started 

 on the homeward journey along the river bank through 

 the rapidly gathering darkness. True, I might have 

 taken a much shorter way across the meadows, but that 

 footpath led past Farmer Perry's homestead, and I knew 

 full well the worthy yeoman would be watching for my 

 advent, and, incidentally, for the rabbits for the much- 

 desired pie. 



