34 A Hill apparently enlarged. 



a little of the grass that grows there and is com- 

 paratively dry. But as evening approaches and the 

 rain ceases, they naturally come forth to break a long 

 fast, and may then be shot. 



Some little time passed thus, when, in sauntering 

 along, I came to a gap in the hedge, and glanced 

 through it in the direction of the downs, there partly 

 visible. The idea at once occurred to me that the 

 part of the hills seen through the gap was remarkably 

 high — -^-ery much higher and more mountainous 

 than any I had ever visited ; and actually, in the 

 abstraction of the moment, half-intent on the rabbits 

 and half perhaps thinking of other things, I resolved 

 to explore that section more thoroughly. Yet, after 

 walking a few yards further, somehow it seemed 

 singular that the great elevation of this down should 

 never previously have been so apparent. In short, 

 growing curious in the matter, I returned to the gap 

 and looked again. 



There was no mistake : there was the down rising 

 up against the sk}^ — a huge dusky mountainous hill, 

 exactly the same in outline as I remembered it, quite 

 famihar, and yet entirely strange. There was the 

 old barn near the foot of the slope ; above it the 

 black line of a low hedge and mound ; on the sum- 

 mit the same old clump of trees; and lastly, a tall 

 column of black smoke rising upwards, as if from 

 a steam plough at work. It was all just the same, 

 but lifted up into the air — the hill grown into 

 a mountain. A second and longer gaze failed to 

 discover the explanation of the apparition : the eye 

 was completely deceived, and j-et the mind was not 

 satisfied. But upon getting up into the gap of the 



