LAND AND ^WATER 
April 24, 1915. 
Ho readied the smout, and crouched to slither through 
it, and found it cLokt J with rabbits. 
The sun had risen, Man had risen, too. 
It was no time for flights ailold. The smout was blocked; 
then ho must leap the hedge. 
He backed away and held his strength as he drew to it in 
an easy canter. I^ike deer he leapt and cleared it by a yard ; 
and landed in his enemies' headquarters. The slope beyond 
was brown with them. 
l?oussard was desperate now. He tbrusted through, and 
reached his combe, and flung into his thicket. 
His grass-pile rose close-moulded to his sides beneath 
the barbed entanglement of bramble. Slowly he gained his 
breath again. His nose ceased its quick snuffling, his ears 
drooped back and stiffened. In the half-light below the criss- 
cros? tangle he seemed like weather-beaten atone sunk deep of 
its own weight. 
He slept the sleep that was his daily portion, broken by 
every whi.sper of the weed, broken by every long-drawn spell 
of silence, broken by every straying beam which searched his 
thicket's shadow. 
And, when sleep claimed him wholly, he drc-amed dreams. 
His ears pricked sharp, his frightened eyes dilated, he 
trembled snout to scut, and wcke a-treinble. 
This day, of all days, lie slept ill. The night's adven- 
ture v/eighed on him, the broken course, the rabbit folk. Each 
rustle was a thunder-peal, each sunbeam a -heath fire. 
So the slow, restless, haunted hours trailed their long 
course to sundown. 
Once more he idly stretched Jiimself, once more he listened 
fearfully. There was no note discordant. Tiie wind surred 
through the trammel of the briar, and fluttering leaf and 
dancing bud waved farewell to the light. 
Eoussard leapt forth across the boundary wall, across the 
leaf -choked ditch that bordered it. 
A honeyed scent was wafted to his nostrils, scent of dew- 
laden clover. Life's ecstasy was his once more. Twilight with 
rounded, soothing lips had kissed the haunting terror from 
his eyes. 
He tripped, he danced, he caracoled, he gambolled, rejoic- 
ing in his solitude, rejoicing in the glamour of the night. 
And presently he sped afield, and crossed the rise, and, 
of a sudden, checked. 
His ears had caught a tumult of small voices, a mumble- 
sound that he had heard before — but where 1 and when J 
The fox's bark he knew, the ermine's spit, the badger's 
snuff, the shrill of mouse, the whimper of the hunt. But it 
was none of these. 
The answer stabbed his memory like a kuife. 
It was the rabbits' c.iU-note. 
It circled him. It closed on him. From east and wesi 
and north and south it spat its vicious menace. Could he break 
through ? 
This way and that he slewed his head, this way and that 
his quivering ears crossed and recrossed like swords. 
But Fear had chained his feet. Fear of the nearing 
skirmishers, grey shadow splashes dancing tuft to tuft. Fear 
of the serried black beyond, the stamping, grunting, jostling 
horde, which surged and swayed towards him. 
There was no chance of flight; Roussard, perforce, mnst 
use his second weapon. Roussard dropt limp to «arth and 
closed his eyes. 
A huge buck rabbit drove at him, and butted him and 
sought to overturn him. 
Another followed quickly, with bared teeth. 
Another leaping, lashed with his hicd-feet and scored a 
crimson furrow on his back. 
Roussard sprang five feet up, and left a strip of whitd- 
furred skin behind. > 
Like ants they swarmed about him as he landed. 
Vainly he drummed and buffeted, vainly he dodged and 
swerved. 
The sharp-clawed vermin fastened to his flanks, transK 
piereed his ears, tore at his eyes, mouthed at his silk-furred 
groin. 
He staggered with fiercfe gnashing teeth about him, and 
murderous blood-shot eyes aflame, and crimson-dripping 
muzzles. 
He rose and fell, and rose and fell, and presently, they 
pinned him on his back. 
« * » « * 
A scream of agony vibrant tlirough the night- — voicing 
a shame unspeakable, an unandurnble pain : and then, aa 
though fiends stamped applause, the double-thud of feet upon 
the turf, and gibber-notes, and chucklings : and then, th« 
slow alternate tread of Man. 
The Man passed on his way. 
Roussard rose quivering, bleeding, maimed. 
His torturers had dropped oflt him, had scuttled to their 
holes. 
He still could crawl — but whither ? 
Not to the combe — he knew now why the combe waa 
cursed of hares. 
To Valrimond ? 
To Valrimond slunk Roussard, Roussard the Brown Gib 
Hare. 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
TO ATTACK SUBMARINES. 
To the Editor of Land and Watbb. 
Dear Sik, — Lord Dunleath in his lat«st letter recom- 
mends the Admiralty to build fast vessels, of speed 20-24 
knots, designed to ram submarines, or of lighter construction 
and speed, 28-30 knots. 
I am afraid this suggestion shows a failure to understand 
the following points: — 
1. The difl[iculty of designing such craft. 
2. The capabilities of a submarine. 
With regard to 1, it would be impossible to design a boat 
smaller than a destroyer which would be able to ram a sub- 
marine at any speed over 10 knots without seriously damaging, 
and, perhaps, sinking, herself. The necessary strength would 
entail the sacrifice of high speed and easy manceu^Ting. 
With regard to 2, no submarine submerged with the 
periscope showing would allow herself to be rammed bv a 
hostile craft, as she could dive to any depth up to 100 feet or 
60 in a very few seconds. 
Should the submarine be on the surface, she would notice 
the approach of the attacking vessel in plenty of time to 
submerge. 
Against this may be cited the fact that submarines have 
been sunk by ramming during the present war; but it is 
extremely likely that they were either " caught napping " or 
forced to the surface by some contrivance of which we know 
nothing. 
The Adn?iralty have doubtless adopted the plan which 
our own submarine experts consider the most efiicieat. — I 
remain, Sir, yours faithfully, 
N. O. 
OUR MOTOR AMBULANCE FUiND. 
By ATIIHRTON FLEMING. 
"E have pleasure in announcing that che total 
amount received for the Land and Wateb 
Motor Ambulance Fund to date is 
£691 14s. 6d. The following errors have 
crept into our list, and we take this opportunity 
of rectifying them. A donation of £5 from Mrs. Crighton 
Simpson was entered as 5s.; 12s. from a Scottish reader is 
now acknowledged; and a subscription from Mr. James B. 
Greig, of Laurencekirk, was entered under the wrong name. 
Our apologies are due to these subscribers. The Fund is 
now closed, and a full account of expenditure will be published 
later. 
Anonymous, £10; Mrs. Bainbridge, £10; Mr. D. C» 
Rutherford Lindsay Carnegie, £5 5s.; Mr. Walter Neves, 
Mr. Frank H. Cauty, Mr. A. L. Wingate, £5 each; Miss 
M. E. Freeman, £3; " Kiddington Village," £2 los.; Mrs. 
Harold Gordon, Mrs. Diarmid Noel Paton, £2 2s. each; Mr. 
H. Knox-Shaw, £2; Mr. W. Harold Fraser, £1 Is. 6d. ; Mr. 
Sholto Douglas, Mr. R. M. Blake-Smith, Mrs. A. M. Hedley, 
Captain H. Watts, Mrs. Massey, £1 Is. each; Mr. E. A, 
Asgood, Miss May Stokes, £1 each; Miss E. B. Sparrow, 
Miss J. Lambert, Mr. J. H. Cox, lOs. each; Mr. H. Clifford 
Davis, " Q. E. D.," Miss A. G. Simson, Miss Jackson, Mrs. 
Murray N. Phelps, Mr. J. Cohen, 5s. each; the Misses Eva 
and Edith Godman, Mr. R. Henry, 43. each; Miss S. Thomp- 
son, Mr. P. J. Egan, Miss M. Finlay, 23. 6d. each; Mrs, 
J. M. Latham, 2s. 3d.; Captain Arthur St. John, Mr. J, 
Barry, Miss Troup, Mrs. W. Robinson, Miss Holt, Anony* 
mous, 23. each; Miss M. Meek, Miss S. Wildsmith, Master 
Jack Hender.=;on, the Rev. E. J. Janson-Smith. Is. each. 
Printed by The Victoeia House PaiNTiKa Co., Ltd., Tudor Street, Whitefriars, London, E.O. 
