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. 



