THE WOODCOCK 
dropped, but no sooner was Creaman among 
the leaves than he became invisible. Never- 
theless the man raised his gun until the end of 
the barrels was like a double eye staring at 
Creaman. At this, Creaman's nerve forsook 
him, for the wild folk instinctively hate any- 
thing which stares. He burst up like a puff of 
brown smoke, and dashed away down the 
wood, but not too quickly to see that his com- 
panion was already almost out of gunshot to his 
left. There was a second fusillade as she got 
up, and the next minute a noisy whirring 
shadow eclipsed the sun above him, and she 
dropped down trembling. By day a wood- 
cock's wits work slowly as do his eyes, but 
when he is once roused he lives in wakeful 
panic for the rest of the day. This Man was a 
persevering hunter, and would follow a wood- 
cock up and down Garrybrack for hours in 
hope of a shot. He flushed this couple three 
times, and on each occasion they rose more 
wildly and flew faster than before. When at 
last the woods were left in peace, Creaman 
found himself alone, and the solitude was oddly 
distasteful to him. 
At nightfall he remembered the little pool in 
the swamp near Droleen's allotment. It was a 
still dimly starlit evening after a day of transient 
brightness, and some shrew-mice were eating 
G 97 
