WHEN THE NIGHT FALLS. 225 



going on just as well as if you saw the various 

 actions performed, so very quiet is the place and its 

 surroundings. 



Quiet as the place is, we must not linger here — 

 we must travel before night falls; so we leave the 

 farm behind us, and a few plovers spring up and 

 settle again as we pass by. One figure stealing 

 along in the gloaming does not alarm them much. 



Presently a low stile, leading from the fields to 

 the uplands, offers a very inviting seat for a time. 

 So little is this path used that by the hedge-growth 

 on either side — young oak-shoots from where trees 

 have been felled — it is completely bowered over, 

 making a capital place for observation. We do not 

 smoke, so that not the least taint is in the air, and 

 we sit quite still. No shuffling or changing about ; 

 we can keep still for any length of time when on the 

 hunt, although we make up for it by restless activity 

 at all other times. I wish to see how the hares are 

 conducting themselves this spring-time. " As mad 

 as a March hare," or "As mad as a hatter," are 

 very well-known sayings. I know little about the 

 saneness of the hatter, but I can state this, that 

 the supposed aberration of mind that the hare is 



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