WILD FIDELITY. 191 
tached itself from a shrivelled tussock ahead, 
and bolted from before the footsteps of the 
‘lord of creation,’ splashing and surprised, its 
white tail winking the while. 
Bang! 
The thunderous, sudden concussion of the 
gun hammered into the wind and was ex- 
tinguished. The rabbit winced peculiarly in 
its stride, and vanished over the waste. The 
almost yelling imprecations from the man 
were whisked off by the gale like foam. 
The man passed, and became of the past. 
The wind blew on. 
Nothing alive moved in sight on the wind- 
blasted heath. 
Five hundred yards away, on the ground, 
among the writhing roots, the brown bird was 
standing, body held horizontally, head stuck 
out, coughing—blood. The cough was like 
the cough of a very small baby—horrible ! 
Four hundred yards away, on the ground, 
among the twisting branchlets and roots, the 
rabbit was sitting, crouched, astare, ears flat, 
motionless, panting in great gasps—blood. 
Once it screamed, a scream like the pathetic, 
thin, heart-stabbing scream of a very small 
child—ghastly ! 
Then, as if scream and cough had summoned 
them, low and silent, three big birds came 
