AT MIDNIGHT. 225 
sparkles from between the branches, still clothed 
with leaves left by the mildness of a late autumn, 
add a new mystery to our surprise and awe. All 
at once, however, the truth flashes upon us, and 
the sudden disappearance of the fierce-looking men 
is explained. They have evidently climbed into 
the Trees, and are there waiting, ambushed, with 
some strange intent. 
As we look and listen and wonder, a strange 
rustling arises all around us, as of a number of 
people walking in the copse. Presently the wood 
appears filled with various moving forms—big. 
and burly, small and thin, tall and short. All are 
moving to the highest point of the upland, only a 
score or two of yards from where we stand. 
Arrived there they stop, and gather in a crowd 
within the belt of Trees into which the men in 
ambush had climbed. All at once, from this 
direction, a shout long and loud rises into the 
silent air; and at this moment we catch sight, 
emerging from the end of an alley of Trees, of the 
ghostly band of twelve, whose appearance on the 
scene has evidently been the signal for the shout 
from the knoll top. Slowly advancing, the 
