116 IN NIGHTMARE’S GRIP. 
slowly, here and there, there and here, her 
big, bulging eyes, full now of terror, followed 
the movements of something invisible. 
It was an uncanny sight to watch—that old 
beast first, then the others, erect, still all but 
their heads, big ears thrown forward listening 
to, and big eyes watching, a thing you couldn’t 
see. 
That it was moving rapidly, that thing, you 
could tell by watching the eyes of the cattle. 
That it Ah! Above the hum of the 
insects that formed a background of sound, as 
it were, there came another hum, a peculiarly 
insistent, penetrating hum, that arrested atten- 
tion at once. You could not mistake it. Nor 
could the cattle. 
And then, in an instant, whirring, whirling, 
the hum was amongst them. 
Certainly it was only a hum, though a 
peculiar one ; but if it had been the report of an 
eighteen-pounder quickly fired in their midst, 
it could have had no more startling effect. 
Instantly every cow curled her tail above 
her back in a peculiar and unmistakable 
manner, which I never remember seeing 
adopted in any other circumstances, and fled 
to all points of the compass ; they scattered at 
full gallop through the heat-haze and the hot 
sun like things possessed. 
