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diff --git a/old/old/13730.txt b/old/old/13730.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cce0fe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/13730.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5580 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Amateur Poacher, by Richard Jefferies + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Amateur Poacher + +Author: Richard Jefferies + +Release Date: October 12, 2004 [EBook #13730] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMATEUR POACHER *** + + + + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + + + + + + + + + + + THE AMATEUR POACHER + + BY + + RICHARD JEFFERIES + + + + +PREFACE + + +The following pages are arranged somewhat in the order of time, +beginning with the first gun, and attempts at shooting. Then come the +fields, the first hills, and woods explored, often without a gun, or any +thought of destruction: and next the poachers, and other odd characters +observed at their work. Perhaps the idea of shooting with a matchlock, +or wheel-lock, might, if put in practice, at least afford some little +novelty. + +R.J. + + + + + +CONTENTS + + + +I. THE FIRST GUN + +II. THE OLD PUNT: A CURIOUS 'TURNPIKE' + +III. TREE-SHOOTING: A FISHING EXPEDITION + +IV. EGG-TIME: A 'GIP'-TRAP + +V. WOODLAND TWILIGHT: TRAITORS ON THE GIBBET + +VI. LURCHER-LAND: 'THE PARK' + +VII. OBY, AND HIS SYSTEM: THE MOUCHER'S CALENDAR + +VIII. CHURCHYARD PHEASANTS: BEFORE THE BENCH + +IX. LUKE, THE RABBIT-CONTRACTOR: THE BROOK PATH. + +X. FARMER WILLUM'S PLACE: SNIPE-SHOOTING + +XI. FERRETING: A RABBIT-HUNTER + +XII. A WINTER NIGHT: OLD TRICKS: PHEASANT-STALKING: MATCHLOCK VERSUS + BREECH-LOADER: CONCLUSION + + + + +THE AMATEUR POACHER + + + + + +CHAPTER I + + + +THE FIRST GUN + + +They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the +garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. +Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did +not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so +perfect. And why else was he put away up there out of sight?--and so +magnificent a brush as he had too. But there he stood, and mounted guard +over the old flintlock that was so powerful a magnet to us in those +days. Though to go up there alone was no slight trial of moral courage +after listening to the horrible tales of the carters in the stable, or +the old women who used to sit under the hedge in the shade, on an armful +of hay, munching their crusts at luncheon time. + +The great cavernous place was full of shadows in the brightest summer +day; for the light came only through the chinks in the shutters. These +were flush with the floor and bolted firmly. The silence was intense, it +being so near the roof and so far away from the inhabited parts of the +house. Yet there were sometimes strange acoustical effects--as when +there came a low tapping at the shutters, enough to make your heart +stand still. There was then nothing for it but to dash through the +doorway into the empty cheese-room adjoining, which was better lighted. +No doubt it was nothing but the labourers knocking the stakes in for the +railing round the rickyard, but why did it sound just exactly outside +the shutters? When that ceased the staircase creaked, or the pear-tree +boughs rustled against the window. The staircase always waited till you +had forgotten all about it before the loose worm-eaten planks sprang +back to their place. + +Had it not been for the merry whistling of the starlings on the thatch +above, it would not have been possible to face the gloom and the teeth +of Reynard, ever in the act to snap, and the mystic noises, and the +sense of guilt--for the gun was forbidden. Besides which there was the +black mouth of the open trapdoor overhead yawning fearfully--a standing +terror and temptation; for there was a legend of a pair of pistols +thrown up there out of the way--a treasure-trove tempting enough to make +us face anything. But Orion must have the credit of the courage; I call +him Orion because he was a hunter and had a famous dog. The last I heard +of him he had just ridden through a prairie fire, and says the people +out there think nothing of it. + +We dragged an ancient linen-press under the trapdoor, and put some boxes +on that, and finally a straight-backed oaken chair. One or two of those +chairs were split up and helped to do the roasting on the kitchen +hearth. So, climbing the pile, we emerged under the rafters, and could +see daylight faintly in several places coming through the starlings' +holes. One or two bats fluttered to and fro as we groped among the +lumber, but no pistols could be discovered; nothing but a cannon-ball, +rusty enough and about as big as an orange, which they say was found in +the wood, where there was a brush in Oliver's time. + +In the middle of our expedition there came the well-known whistle, +echoing about the chimneys, with which it was the custom to recall us to +dinner. How else could you make people hear who might be cutting a +knobbed stick in the copse half a mile away or bathing in the lake? We +had to jump down with a run; and then came the difficulty; for black +dusty cobwebs, the growth of fifty years, clothed us from head to foot. +There was no brushing or picking them off, with that loud whistle +repeated every two minutes. + +The fact where we had been was patent to all; and so the chairs got +burned--but one, which was rickety. After which a story crept out, of a +disjointed skeleton lying in a corner under the thatch. Though just a +little suspicious that this might be a _ruse_ to frighten us from a +second attempt, we yet could not deny the possibility of its being true. +Sometimes in the dusk, when I sat poring over 'Koenigsmark, the Robber,' +by the little window in the cheese-room, a skull seemed to peer down the +trapdoor. But then I had the flintlock by me for protection. + +There were giants in the days when that gun was made; for surely no +modern mortal could have held that mass of metal steady to his shoulder. +The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very +good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the +window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a +'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger +behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at +them. At least this practice and drill had one useful effect--the eye +got accustomed to the flash from the pan, instead of blinking the +discharge, which ruins the shooting. Almost everybody and everything on +the place got shot dead in this way without knowing it. + +It was not so easy as might be supposed to find proper flints. The best +time to look for them was after a heavy storm of rain had washed a +shallow channel beside the road, when you might select some hardy +splinters which had lain hidden under the dust. How we were found out is +not quite clear: perhaps the powder left a smell of sulphur for any one +who chanced to go up in the garret. + +But, however that may be, one day, as we came in unexpectedly from a +voyage in the punt, something was discovered burning among the logs on +the kitchen hearth; and, though a desperate rescue was attempted, +nothing was left but the barrel of our precious gun and some crooked +iron representing the remains of the lock. There are things that are +never entirely forgotten, though the impression may become fainter as +years go by. The sense of the cruel injustice of that act will never +quite depart. + +But they could not burn the barrel, and we almost succeeded in fitting +it to a stock of elder. Elder has a thick pith running down the centre: +by removing that the gouge and chisel had not much work to do to make a +groove for the old bell-mouthed barrel to lie in. The matchlock, for as +such it was intended, was nearly finished when our hopes were dashed to +the ground by a piece of unnatural cunning. One morning the breechpiece +that screwed in was missing. This was fatal. A barrel without a +breechpiece is like a cup without a bottom. It was all over. + +There are days in spring when the white clouds go swiftly past, with +occasional breaks of bright sunshine lighting up a spot in the +landscape. That is like the memory of one's youth. There is a long dull +blank, and then a brilliant streak of recollection. Doubtless it was a +year or two afterwards when, seeing that the natural instinct could not +be suppressed but had better be recognised, they produced a real gun +(single-barrel) for me from the clock-case. + +It stood on the landing just at the bottom of the dark flight that led +to the garret. An oaken case six feet high or more, and a vast dial, +with a mysterious picture of a full moon and a ship in full sail that +somehow indicated the quarters of the year, if you had been imitating +Rip Van Winkle and after a sleep of six months wanted to know whether it +was spring or autumn. But only to think that all the while we were +puzzling over the moon and the ship and the queer signs on the dial a +gun was hidden inside! The case was locked, it is true; but there are +ways of opening locks, and we were always handy with tools. + +This gun was almost, but not quite so long as the other. That dated from +the time between Stuart and Hanover; this might not have been more than +seventy years old. And a beautiful piece of workmanship it was: my new +double breechloader is a coarse common thing to compare with it. Long +and slender and light as a feather, it came to the shoulder with +wonderful ease. Then there was a groove on the barrel at the breech and +for some inches up which caught the eye and guided the glance like a +trough to the sight at the muzzle and thence to the bird. The stock was +shod with brass, and the trigger-guard was of brass, with a kind of +flange stretching half-way down to the butt and inserted in the wood. +After a few minutes' polishing it shone like gold, and to see the +sunlight flash on it was a joy. + +You might note the grain of the barrel, for it had not been browned; and +it took a good deal of sand to get the rust off. By aid of a little oil +and careful wiping after a shower it was easy to keep it bright. Those +browned barrels only encourage idleness. The lock was a trifle dull at +first, simply from lack of use. A small screwdriver soon had it to +pieces, and it speedily clicked again sweet as a flute. If the hammer +came back rather far when at full-cock, that was because the lock had +been converted from a flint, and you could not expect it to be +absolutely perfect. Besides which, as the fall was longer the blow was +heavier, and the cap was sure to explode. + +By old farmhouses, mostly in exposed places (for which there is a +reason), one or more huge walnut trees may be found. The provident folk +of those days planted them with the purpose of having their own +gunstocks cut out of the wood when the tree was thrown. They could then +be sure it was really walnut, and a choice piece of timber thoroughly +well seasoned. I like to think of those times, when men settled +themselves down, and planted and planned and laid out their gardens and +orchards and woods, as if they and their sons and sons' sons, to the +twentieth generation, were sure to enjoy the fruit of their labour. + +The reason why the walnuts are put in exposed places, on the slope of a +rise, with open aspect to the east and north, is because the walnut is a +foolish tree that will not learn by experience. If it feels the warmth +of a few genial days in early spring, it immediately protrudes its buds; +and the next morning a bitter frost cuts down every hope of fruit for +that year, leaving the leaf as black as may be. Wherefore the east wind +is desirable to keep it as backward as possible. + +There was a story that the stock of this gun had been cut out of a +walnut tree that was thrown on the place by my great-grandfather, who +saw it well seasoned, being a connoisseur of timber, which is, indeed, a +sort of instinct in all his descendants. And a vast store of philosophy +there is in timber if you study it aright. + +After cleaning the gun and trying it at a mark, the next thing was to +get a good shot with it. Now there was an elm that stood out from the +hedge a little, almost at the top of the meadow, not above +five-and-twenty yards from the other hedge that bounded the field. Two +mounds could therefore be commanded by any one in ambush behind the elm, +and all the angular corner of the mead was within range. + +It was not far from the house; but the ground sank into a depression +there, and the ridge of it behind shut out everything except just the +roof of the tallest hayrick. As one sat on the sward behind the elm, +with the back turned on the rick and nothing in front but the tall elms +and the oaks in the other hedge, it was quite easy to fancy it the verge +of the prairie with the backwoods close by. + +The rabbits had scratched the yellow sand right out into the grass--it +is always very much brighter in colour where they have just been at +work--and the fern, already almost yellow too, shaded the mouths of +their buries. Thick bramble bushes grew out from the mound and filled +the space between it and the elm: there were a few late flowers on them +still, but the rest were hardening into red sour berries. Westwards, the +afternoon sun, with all his autumn heat, shone full against the hedge +and into the recess, and there was not the shadow of a leaf for shelter +on that side. + +The gun was on the turf, and the little hoppers kept jumping out of the +grass on to the stock: once their king, a grasshopper, alighted on it +and rested, his green limbs tipped with red rising above his back. About +the distant wood and the hills there was a soft faint haze, which is +what Nature finishes her pictures with. Something in the atmosphere +which made it almost visible: all the trees seemed to stand in a liquid +light--the sunbeams were suspended in the air instead of passing +through. The butterflies even were very idle in the slumberous warmth; +and the great green dragon-fly rested on a leaf, his tail arched a +little downwards, just as he puts it when he wishes to stop suddenly in +his flight. + +The broad glittering trigger-guard got quite hot in the sun, and the +stock was warm when I felt it every now and then. The grain of the +walnut-wood showed plainly through the light polish: it was not +varnished like the stock of the double-barrel they kept padlocked to the +rack over the high mantelpiece indoors. Still you could see the varnish. +It was of a rich dark horse-chestnut colour, and yet so bright and clear +that if held close you could see your face in it. Behind it the grain of +the wood was just perceptible; especially at the grip, where hard hands +had worn it away somewhat. The secret of that varnish is lost--like that +of the varnish on the priceless old violins. + +But you could feel the wood more in my gun: so that it was difficult to +keep the hand off it, though the rabbits would not come out; and the +shadowless recess grew like a furnace, for it focussed the rays of the +sun. The heat on the sunny side of a thick hedge between three and four +in the afternoon is almost tropical if you remain still, because the air +is motionless: the only relief is to hold your hat loose; or tilt it +against your head, the other edge of the brim on the ground. Then the +grass-blades rise up level with the forehead. There is a delicious smell +in growing grass, and a sweetness comes up from the earth. + +Still it got hotter and hotter; and it was not possible to move in the +least degree, lest a brown creature sitting on the sand at the mouth of +his hole, and hidden himself by the fern, should immediately note it. +And Orion was waiting in the rickyard for the sound of the report, and +very likely the shepherd too. We knew that men in Africa, watched by +lions, had kept still in the sunshine till, reflected from the rock, it +literally scorched them, not daring to move; and we knew all about the +stoicism of the Red Indians. But Ulysses was ever my pattern and model: +that man of infinite patience and resource. + +So, though the sun might burn and the air become suffocating in that +close corner, and the quivering line of heat across the meadow make the +eyes dizzy to watch, yet not a limb must be moved. The black flies came +in crowds; but they are not so tormenting if you plunge your face in the +grass, though they titillate the back of the hand as they run over it. +Under the bramble bush was a bury that did not look much used; and once +or twice a great blue fly came out of it, the buzz at first sounding +hollow and afar off and becoming clearer as it approached the mouth of +the hole. There was the carcass of a dead rabbit inside no doubt. + +A humble-bee wandering along--they are restless things--buzzed right +under my hat, and became entangled in the grass by my ear. Now we knew +by experience in taking their honey that they could sting sharply if +irritated, though good-tempered by nature. How he 'burred' and buzzed +and droned!--till by-and-by, crawling up the back of my head, he found +an open space and sailed away. Then, looking out again, there was a pair +of ears in the grass not ten yards distant: a rabbit had come out at +last. But the first delight was quickly over: the ears were short and +sharply pointed, and almost pinkly transparent. + +What would the shepherd say if I brought home one of his hated enemies +no bigger than a rat? The young rabbit made waiting still more painful, +being far enough from the hedge to get a clear view into the recess if +anything attracted his notice. Why the shepherd hated rabbits was +because the sheep would not feed where they had worn their runs in the +grass. Not the least movement was possible now--not even that little +shifting which makes a position just endurable: the heat seemed to +increase; the thought of Ulysses could hardly restrain the almost +irresistible desire to stir. + +When, suddenly, there was a slight rustling among the boughs of an oak +in the other hedge, as of wings against twigs: it was a woodpigeon, +better game than a rabbit. He would, I knew, first look round before he +settled himself to preen his feathers on the branch, and, if everything +was still while that keen inspection lasted, would never notice me. This +is their habit--and the closer you are underneath them the less chance +of their perceiving you: for a pigeon perched rarely looks straight +downwards. If flying, it is just the reverse; for then they seem to see +under them quicker than in any other direction. + +Slowly lifting the long barrel of the gun--it was fortunate the sunlight +glancing on the bright barrel was not reflected towards the oak--I got +it to bear upon the bird; but then came a doubt. It was all +eight-and-twenty yards across the angle of the meadow to the oak--a +tremendous long shot under the circumstances. For they would not trust +us with the large copper powder-flask, but only with a little +pistol-flask (it had belonged to the pair of pistols we tried to find), +and we were ordered not to use more than a charge and a half at a time. +That was quite enough to kill blackbirds. (The noise of the report was +always a check in this way; such a trifle of powder only made a slight +puff.) + +Shot there was in plenty--a whole tobacco-pipe bowl full, carefully +measured out of the old yellow canvas money-bag that did for a shot +belt. A starling could be knocked off the chimney with this charge +easily, and so could a blackbird roosting in a bush at night. But a +woodpigeon nearly thirty yards distant was another matter; for the old +folk (and the birdkeepers too) said that their quills were so hard the +shot would glance aside unless it came with great force. Very likely the +pigeon would escape, and all the rabbits in the buries would be too +frightened to come out at all. + +A beautiful bird he was on the bough, perched well in view and clearly +defined against the sky behind; and my eye travelled along the groove on +the breech and up the barrel, and so to the sight and across to him; and +the finger, which always would keep time with the eye, pulled at the +trigger. + +A mere puff of a report, and then a desperate fluttering in the tree and +a cloud of white feathers floating above the hedge, and a heavy fall +among the bushes. He was down, and Orion's spaniel (that came racing +like mad from the rickyard the instant he heard the discharge) had him +in a moment. Orion followed quickly. Then the shepherd came up, rather +stiff on his legs from rheumatism, and stepped the distance, declaring +it was thirty yards good; after which we all walked home in triumph. + +Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she +would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready +to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they +scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking +back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes. + +'You mind you chaws the shot well, measter,' said the shepherd, 'afore +you loads th' gun. The more you chaws it the better it sticks +the-gither, an' the furder it kills um;' a theory of gunnery that which +was devoutly believed in in his time and long anticipated the wire +cartridges. And the old soldiers that used to come round to haymaking, +glad of a job to supplement their pensions, were very positive that if +you bit the bullet and indented it with your teeth, it was perfectly +fatal, no matter to what part of the body its billet took it. + +In the midst of this talk as we moved on, I carrying the gun at the +trail with the muzzle downwards, the old ramrod, long disused and +shrunken, slipped half out; the end caught the ground, and it snapped +short off in a second. A terrible disaster this, turning everything to +bitterness: Orion was especially wroth, for it was his right next to +shoot. However, we went down to the smithy at the inn, to take counsel +of the blacksmith, a man of knowledge and a trusty friend. 'Aha!' said +he, 'it's not the first time I've made a ramrod. There's a piece of +lancewood in the store overhead which I keep on purpose; it's as tough +as a bow--they make carriage-shafts of it; you shall have a better rod +than was ever fitted to a Joe Manton.' So we took him down some pippins, +and he set to work on it that evening. + + + + + +CHAPTER II + + + +THE OLD PUNT: A CURIOUS 'TURNPIKE' + + +The sculls of our punt, being short and stout, answered very well as +levers to heave the clumsy old craft off the sand into which it sank so +deeply. That sheltered corner of the mere, with a shelving sandy shore, +and a steep bank behind covered with trees, was one of the best places +to fish for roach: you could see them playing under the punt in shoals +any sunny day. + +There was a projecting bar almost enclosing the creek, which was quite +still, even when the surf whitened the stony strand without, driven +before a wet and stormy south-wester. It was the merest routine to carry +the painter ashore and twist the rotten rope round an exposed root of +the great willow tree; for there was not the slightest chance of that +ancient craft breaking adrift. All our strength and the leverage of the +sculls could scarcely move her, so much had she settled. But we had +determined to sail that lovely day to visit the island of Calypso, and +had got all our arms and munitions of war aboard, besides being +provisioned and carrying some fruit for fear of scurvy. There was of +course the gun, placed so as not to get wet; for the boat leaked, and +had to be frequently baled out with a tin mug--one that the haymakers +used. + +Indeed, if we had not caulked her with some dried moss and some stiff +clay, it is doubtful if she would have floated far. The well was full of +dead leaves that had been killed by the caterpillars and the blight, and +had fallen from the trees before their time; and there were one or two +bunches of grass growing at the stern part from between the decaying +planks. + +Besides the gun there was the Indian bow, scooped out inside in a +curious way, and covered with strange designs or coloured hieroglyphics: +it had been brought home by one of our people years before. There was +but one man in the place who could bend that bow effectually; so that +though we valued it highly we could not use it. By it lay another of +briar, which was pliable enough and had brought down more than one bird. + +Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, +and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn +out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; +you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill. Ikey +the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture +of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft. It was really a +dangerous weapon. He had also made us a small anchor according to plan; +nor did he dip too deeply into our pocket-money. + +Then the mast and square-sail, fitted out of a window-blind, took up a +considerable space; for although it was perfectly calm, a breeze might +arise. And what with these and the pole for punting occasionally, the +deck of the vessel was in that approved state of confusion which always +characterises a ship on the point of departure. Nor must Orion's +fishing-rod and gear be forgotten, nor the cigar-box at the stern (a +present from the landlady at the inn) which contained a chart of the +mere and a compass. + +With a 'yeo--heave-ho!' we levered her an inch at a time, and then +loosened her by working her from side to side, and so, panting and +struggling, shoved the punt towards the deep. Slowly a course was shaped +out of the creek--past the bar and then along the edge of the thick +weeds, stretching so far out into the water that the moorhen feeding +near the land was beyond reach of shot. From the green matted mass +through which a boat could scarcely have been forced came a slight +uncertain sound, now here now yonder, a faint 'suck-sock;' and the +dragon-flies were darting to and fro. + +The only ripple of the surface, till broken by the sculls, was where the +swallows dipped as they glided, leaving a circle of tiny wavelets that +barely rolled a yard. Past the low but steep bluff of sand rising sheer +out of the water, drilled with martins' holes and topped by a sapling +oak in the midst of a great furze bush: yellow bloom of the furze, tall +brake fern nestling under the young branches, woodbine climbing up and +bearing sweet coronals of flower. + +Past the barley that came down to the willows by the shore--ripe and +white under the bright sunshine, but yonder beneath the shadow of the +elms with a pale tint of amber. Past broad rising meadows, where under +the oaks on the upper ground the cattle were idly lying out of the +sultry heat. + +Then the barren islands, strewn with stone and mussel-shells glistening +in the sunshine, over which in a gale the waves made a clean sweep, +rendered the navigation intricate; and the vessel had to be worked in +and out, now scraping against rocky walls of sandstone, now grounding +and churning up the bottom, till presently she floated in the bay +beneath the firs. There a dark shadow hung over the black water--still +and silent, so still that even the aspens rested from their rustling. + +Out again into the sunshine by the wide mouth of the Green River, as the +chart named the brook whose level stream scarce moved into the lake. A +streak of blue shot up it between the banks, and a shrill pipe came back +as the kingfisher hastened away. By the huge boulder of sarsen, whose +shoulder projected but a few inches--in stormy times a dangerous rock to +mariners--and then into the unknown narrow seas between the endless +osier-beds and withy-covered isles. + +There the chart failed; and the known landmarks across the open +waters--the firs and elms, the green knoll with the cattle--were shut +out by thick branches on either hand. In and out and round the islets, +sounding the depth before advancing, winding now this way, now that, +till all idea of the course was lost, and it became a mere struggle to +get forward. Drooping boughs swept along the gunwales, thick-matted +weeds cumbered the way; 'snags,' jagged stumps of trees, threatened to +thrust their tops through the bottom; and, finally, panting and weary of +poling through the maze, we emerged in a narrow creek all walled in and +enclosed with vegetation. + +Running her ashore on the soft oozy ground, we rested under a great +hawthorn bush that grew at the very edge, and, looking upwards, could +see in the canopy above the black interlaced twigs of a dove's nest. +Tall willow poles rose up all around, and above them was the deep blue +of the sky. On the willow stems that were sometimes under water the bark +had peeled in scales; beneath the surface bunches of red fibrous roots +stretched out their slender filaments tipped with white, as if feeling +like a living thing for prey. + +A dreamy, slumberous place, where the sedges slept, and the green flags +bowed their pointed heads. Under the bushes in the distant nook the +moorhen, reassured by the silence, came out from the grey-green grass +and the rushes. Surely Calypso's cave could not be far distant, where +she + + with work and song the time divides, + And through, the loom the golden shuttle guides. + +For the Immortals are hiding somewhere still in the woods; even now I do +not weary searching for them. + +But as we rested a shadow fell from a cloud that covered the sun, and +immediately a faint sigh arose from among the sedges and the reeds, and +two pale yellow leaves fell from the willows on the water. A gentle +breeze followed the cloud, chasing its shadow. Orion touched his rod +meaningly. So I stepped ashore with the gun to see if a channel could be +found into the open water, and pushed through the bush. Briar and +bramble choked the path, and hollow willow stoles; but, holding the gun +upright, it was possible to force through, till, pushing between a belt +of reeds and round an elder thicket, I came suddenly on a deep, clear +pool--all but walking into it. Up rose a large bird out of the water +with a bustling of wings and splashing, compelled to 'rocket' by the +thick bushes and willow poles. There was no time to aim; but the old gun +touched the shoulder and went off without conscious volition on my part. + +The bird flew over the willows, but the next moment there was a heavy +splash somewhere beyond out of sight. Then came an echo of the report +sent back from the woods adjoining, and another, and a third and fourth, +as the sound rolled along the side of the hill, caught in the coombes +and thrown to and fro like a ball in a tennis-court. Wild with anxiety, +we forced the punt at the bulrushes, in the corner where it looked most +open, and with all our might heaved it over the weeds and the mud, and +so round the islet into the next pool, and thence into the open water. +It was a wild duck, and was speedily on board. + +Stepping the mast and hoisting the sail, we drifted before the faint +breath of air that now just curled the surface, steering straight across +the open for the stony barren islands at the mouth of the bay. The chart +drawn in pencil--what labour it cost us!--said that there, a few yards +from the steep shore, was a shoal with deep water round it. For some +reason there always seemed a slight movement or current--a set of the +water there, as if it flowed into the little bay. + +In swimming we often came suddenly out of a cold into a stratum of warm +water (at the surface); and perhaps the difference in the temperature +may have caused the drift, for the bay was in shadow half the day. Now, +wherever there is motion there will fish assemble; so as the punt +approached the shoal the sail was doused, and at twenty yards' distance +I _put_ the anchor into the water--not dropping it, to avoid the +splash--and let it slip gently to the bottom. + +Then, paying out the cable, we drifted to the edge of the shoal without +the least disturbance, and there brought up. Orion had his bait +ready--he threw his line right to windward, so that the float might drag +the worm naturally with the wind and slight current towards the shoal. + +The tiny blue buoy dances up and down on the miniature waves; beyond it +a dazzling path of gold stretches away to the distant osier-islands--a +path down which we came without seeing it till we looked back. The +wavelets strike with a faint 'sock-sock' against the bluff overhanging +bow, and then roll on to the lee-shore close at hand. + +It rises steep; then a broad green ledge; and after that, still steeper, +the face of a long-deserted sand-pit, where high up a rabbit sits at the +mouth of his hole, within range, but certain to escape even if hit, and +therefore safe. On the turf below is a round black spot, still showing, +though a twelvemonth has gone by since we landed with half a dozen +perch, lit a fire and cooked the fishes. For Molly never could 'a-bear' +perch, because of the hardness of the scales, saying she would as soon +'scrape a vlint;' and they laughed to scorn our idea of skinning them as +you do moorhens, whose 'dowl' no fingers can pick. + +So we lit a fire and blew it up, lying on the soft short grass in a +state of nature after a swim, there being none to see us but the +glorious sun. The skinned perch were sweeter than any I have tasted +since. + +'Look!' whispers Orion, suddenly. The quill above the blue buoy nods as +it lifts over the wavelets--nods again, sinks a little, jerks up, and +then goes down out of sight. Orion feels the weight. 'Two pounds, if +he's an ounce!' he shouts: soon after a splendid perch is in the boat, +nearer three pounds perhaps than two. Flop! whop! how he leaps up and +down on the planks, soiled by the mud, dulling his broad back and barred +sides on the grit and sand. + +Roaming about like this with the gun, now on the water in the punt, and +now on land, we gradually came to notice very closely the game we wished +to shoot. We saw, for instance, that the rabbit when feeding or moving +freely, unless quickened by alarm, has a peculiar way of dwelling upon +his path. It almost resembles creeping; for both fore feet stop while +the hinder come up--one hinder foot slightly behind the other, and +rather wide apart. + +When a fall of snow presents a perfect impression of his passage, it +appears as if the animal had walked slowly backwards. This deceives many +who at such times go out to pick up anything that comes in their way; +for they trace the trail in the wrong direction. The truth is, that when +the rabbit pauses for the hinder feet to come up he again rests +momentarily upon these before the two foremost are put forth, and so +presses not only the paw proper but the whole first joint of the hind +leg upon the snow. A glance at the hind feet of a rabbit will show what +I mean: they will be found to display plain signs of friction against +the ground. + +The habit has given the creature considerable power of standing up on +the hinder feet; he can not only sit on his haunches, but raise himself +almost upright, and remain in that position to listen for some little +time. For the same reason he can bark the ash saplings higher up than +would be imagined: where he cannot reach, the mice climb up and nibble +straight lines across the young pole, as if done with a single stroke +from a saw that scraped away the rind but did not reach the wood. + +In front of a large rabbit bury the grass will be found discoloured with +sand at some distance from the mouth of the hole. This is explained by +particles adherent to the rabbits' hind feet, and rubbing off against +the grass blades. Country people call this peculiar gait 'sloppetting;' +and one result of it is that the rabbits wear away the grass where they +are numerous almost as much as they eat it away. + +There was such a space worn by the attrition of feet sprinkled with sand +before the extensive burrow at the top of the meadow where I shot the +woodpigeon. These marks suggested to us that we should attempt some more +wholesale system of capture than shooting. It was not for the mere +desire of destruction, but for a special purpose, that we turned our +attention to wiring. The punt, though much beloved, was, like all punts, +a very bad sailer. A boat with a keel that could tack, and so work into +the wind's eye, was our ambition. + +The blacksmith Ikey readily purchased every rabbit we obtained at +sixpence each. Rabbits were not so dear then as now; but of course he +made a large profit even then. The same rabbits at present would be +worth fifteen or eighteen pence. Every sixpence was carefully saved, but +it was clear that a long time must elapse before the goal was attained. +The blacksmith started the idea of putting up a 'turnpike'--_i.e._ a +wire--but professed ignorance as to the method of setting it. That was a +piece of his cunning--that he might escape responsibility. + +The shepherd, too, when obliquely questioned, shook his head, pursed his +lips, threw his pitching-bar over his shoulder, and marched off with a +mysterious hint that our friend Ikey would some day put his 'vut in it.' +It did not surprise us that the shepherd should turn his back on +anything of the kind; for he was a leading man among the 'Ranters,' and +frequently exhorted them in his cottage. + +The carter's lad was about at the time, and for the moment we thought of +applying to him. He was standing on the threshold of the stable, under +the horseshoes and weasles' feet nailed up to keep the witches away, +teasing a bat that he had found under the tiles. But suddenly the dusky +thing bit him sharply, and he uttered an oath; while the creature, +released, flew aimlessly into the elms. It was better to avoid him. + +Indoors, they would have put a very heavy hand upon the notion had they +known of it: so we had to rely solely upon the teaching of experiment. +In the first attempt, a stick that had been put by for the thatcher, but +which he had not yet split, was cut short and sharpened for the plug +that prevents the animal carrying away the wire when snared. This is +driven into the earth; at the projecting end a notch was cut to hold the +string attached to the end of the wire away from the run. + +A smaller stick supported the wire above the ground; this latter only +just sufficiently thrust into the sward to stand firmly upright. Willow +was used for this at first; but it is a feeble wood: it split too much, +or bent and gave way instead of holding the wire in its place. The best +for the purpose we found were the nut-tree rods that shoot up among the +hazel thickets, no larger than the shaft of an arrow, and almost as +straight. A slit about half an inch deep was made in the upper end, and +in this slit the shank of the wire was sunk. Once or twice the upright +was peeled; but this was a mistake, for the white wand was then too +conspicuous. The bark should be left on. + +Three copper wires twisted tight formed the snare itself; we twisted +them like the strands of a rope, thinking it would give more strength. +The wire projected horizontally, the loop curling downwards. It was +first set up at a spot where a very broad and much-worn run--more like a +footpath than a rabbit track--forked into several lesser runs, and at +about five yards from the hedge. But though adjusted, as we thought, +with the utmost nicety, no rabbit would put his neck into it--not even +in the darkness of the night. By day they all played round it in perfect +safety. + +After waiting some time it was removed and reset just over a hole--the +loop close to the opening. It looked scarcely possible for a rabbit to +creep out without being caught, the loop being enlarged to correspond +with the mouth of the hole. For a while it seemed as if the rabbits +declined to use the hole at all; presently, however, the loop was pushed +back, showing that one must have got his nose between it and the bank +and so made a safe passage sideways. A run that crossed the field was +then selected, and the wire erected at about the middle of it, +equidistant from either hedge. Near the entrance of the buries the +rabbits moved slowly, sniffing their way along and pausing every yard or +so. But they often increased their speed farther away, and sometimes +raced from one mound to the other. When going at that rate it appeared +natural to conclude that they would be less careful to pick and choose +their road. + +The theory proved so far correct that next day the upright was down, but +the wire had snapped and the rabbit was gone. The character of the +fracture clearly indicated how it had happened: the rabbit, so soon as +he found his head in the noose, had rolled and tumbled till the wire, +already twisted tight, parted. Too much twisting, therefore, weakened +instead of strengthening. Next a single wire, somewhat thicker, was +used, and set up nearly in the same place; but it broke again. + +Finally, two strands of medium size, placed side by side, but only +twisted once--that is, just enough to keep them together--were employed. +The lesser loop--the slip-knot, as it might be called--was at the same +time eased in order to run quicker and take a closer grip. Experiments +with the hand proved that this style of wire would bear a great strain, +and immediately answered to a sudden jerk. The running noose slipped the +more easily because the wires were smooth; when twisted the strands +checked the noose, the friction causing a slight sound. The wire itself +seemed nearly perfect; but still no rabbit was caught. + +Various runs were tried in succession; the size of the loop, too, was +now enlarged and now decreased; for once it seemed as if a rabbit's ears +had struck it aside, and on another as if, the loop being too large or +too low down, one of the fore feet had entered and drawn it. Had it been +the hind leg the noose would have held, because of the crook of the leg; +but the fore foot came through, leaving the noose drawn up to a size not +much larger than a finger-ring. To decide the point accurately, a +full-grown rabbit was shot, and Orion held it in a position as near as +possible to that taken in running, while I adjusted the wire to fit +exactly. Still no success. + +At last the secret was revealed by a hare. One day, walking up the lane +with the gun, and peeping over into the ploughed field, I saw a hare +about sixty yards away. The distance was too great to risk a shot, or +rather it was preferable to wait for the chance of his coming nearer. +Stepping back gently behind the bushes, I watched him run to and fro, +gradually approaching in a zig-zag line that must carry him right across +in front. I was positive that he had not seen me, and felt sure of +bagging him; when suddenly--without any apparent cause--up went his +head, he glanced round, and was off like the wind. + +Yet there had not been the faintest noise, and I could not understand +it, till all at once it occurred to me that it must be the scent. The +slight, scarcely perceptible, breeze blew in that direction: instantly +he crossed the current from me he detected it and fled. Afterwards I +noticed that in the dusky twilight, if the wind is behind him, a hare +will run straight at you as if about to deliberately charge your legs. +This incident by the ploughed field explained the failure of the wire. +Every other care had been taken, but we had forgotten to allow for the +extreme delicacy of a wild animal's sense of smell. + +In walking to the spot selected for the snare it is best to avoid even +stepping on the run, and while setting it up to stand back as far as +convenient and lean forward. The grass that grows near must not be +touched by the hand, which seems to impart a very strong scent. The +stick that has been carried in the hand must not be allowed to fall +across the run: and be careful that your handkerchief does not drop out +of your pocket on or near it. If a bunch of grass grows very tall and +requires parting, part it with the end (not the handle) of your stick. + +The same holds good with gins, especially if placed for a rat. Some +persons strew a little freshly plucked grass over the pan and teeth of +the trap, thinking to hide it; but it not only smells of the hand, but +withers up and turns brown, and acts as a warning to that wary creature. +It is a better plan if any dead leaves are lying near to turn them over +and over with the end of a twig till they fall on the trap, that is if +they are dry: if wet (unless actually raining at the time), should one +chance to be left with the drier under surface uppermost, the rat may +pause on the brink. Now that the remotest chance of leaving a scent was +avoided the wire became a deadly instrument. Almost every morning two or +three rabbits were taken: we set up a dozen snares when we had mastered +the trick. They were found lying at full length in the crisp white +grass, for we often rose to visit the wires while yet the stars were +visible. Thus extended a person might have passed within a few yards and +never noticed them, unless he had an out-of-doors eye; for the whiter +fur of the belly as they lay aside was barely distinguishable from the +hoar frost. The blacksmith Ikey sauntered down the lane every evening, +and glanced casually behind the ash tree--the northern side of whose +trunk was clothed with dark green velvet-like moss--to see if a bag was +lying for him there among the nettles in the ditch. The rabbits were put +in the bag, which was pushed through the hedge. + + + + + +CHAPTER III + + + +TREE-SHOOTING: A FISHING EXPEDITION + + +Just on the verge and borderland of the territory that could be ranged +in safety there grew a stunted oak in a mound beside the brook. Perhaps +the roots had been checked by the water; for the tree, instead of +increasing in bulk, had expended its vigour in branches so crooked that +they appeared entangled in each other. This oak was a favourite +perching-place, because of its position: it could also be more easily +climbed than straight-grown timber, having many boughs low down the +trunk. With a gun it is difficult to ascend a smooth tree; these boughs +therefore were a great advantage. + +One warm afternoon late in the summer I got up into this oak; and took a +seat astride a large limb, with the main trunk behind like the back of a +chair and about twenty feet above the mound. Some lesser branches +afforded a fork on which the gun could be securely lodged, and a limb of +considerable size came across in front. Leaning both arms on this, a +view could be obtained below and on three sides easily and without +effort. + +The mound immediately beneath was grown over with thick blackthorn, a +species of cover that gives great confidence to game. A kick or blow +upon the bushes with a stick will not move anything in an old blackthorn +thicket. A man can scarcely push through it: nothing but a dog can +manage to get about. On the meadow side there was no ditch, only a +narrow fringe of tall pointed grass and rushes, with one or two small +furze bushes projecting out upon the sward. Behind such bushes, on the +slope of the mound, is rather a favourite place for a rabbit to sit out, +or a hare to have a form. + +The brook was shallow towards the hedge, and bordered with flags, among +which rose up one tall bunch of beautiful reeds. Some little way up the +brook a pond opened from it. At the entrance the bar of mud had hardly +an inch of water; within there was a clear small space, and the rest all +weeds, with moorhens' tracks. The farther side of the pond was covered +with bramble bushes. It is a good plan to send the dogs into bushes +growing on the banks of ponds; for though rabbits dislike water itself +they are fond of sitting out in such cover near it. A low railing +enclosed the side towards me: the posts had slipped by the giving way of +the soil, and hung over the still pool. + +One of the rails--of willow--was eaten out into hollow cavities by the +wasps, which came to it generation after generation for the materials of +their nests. The particles they detach are formed into a kind of paste +or paper: in time they will quite honeycomb a pole. The third side of +the pond shelved to the 'leaze,' that the cattle might drink. From it a +narrow track went across the broad field up the rising ground to the +distant gateway leading to the meadows, where they grazed on the +aftermath. Marching day by day, one after the other in single file, to +the drinking-place, the hoofs of the herd had cut a clean path in the +turf, two or three inches deep and trodden hard. The reddish soil thus +exposed marked the winding line athwart the field, through the tussocky +bunches. + +By the pond stood a low three-sided merestone or landmark, the initials +on which were hidden under moss. Up in the tree, near the gun, there was +a dead branch that had decayed in the curious manner that seems peculiar +to oak. Where it joined the trunk the bark still remained, though +covered with lichen, and for a foot or so out; then there was a long +space where the bark and much of the wood had mouldered away; finally, +near the end the bough retained its original size and the bark adhered. +At the junction with the trunk and at the extremity its diameter was +perhaps three inches; in the middle rather less than half as much. The +grey central piece, larger and darker at either end, suggested the +thought of the bare neck of a vulture. + +Far away, just rising above the slope of the leaze, the distant tops of +elms, crowded with rooks' nests (not then occupied), showed the site of +the residence of an old gentleman of whom at that time we stood in much +fear. The 'Squire' of Southlands alarmed even the hardened carters' lads +as much by the prestige of a singular character as by the chastisement +he personally gave those who ventured into his domain. Not a bird's +nest, not a nut, must be touched: still less anything that could be +called game. The watch kept was so much the stricter because he took a +personal part in it, and was often round the fields himself armed with a +great oak staff. It seemed, indeed, as if the preservation of the game +was of far greater importance to him than the shooting of it afterwards. +All the fowls of the air flocked to Southlands, as if it had been a +refuge; yet it was not a large estate. Into the forest we had been, but +Southlands was a mystery, a forbidden garden of delight, with the terror +of an oaken staff (and unknown penalties) turning this way and that. +Therefore the stunted old oak on the verge--the moss-grown merestone by +the pond marked the limit--was so favourite a perching-place. + +That beautiful afternoon I leaned both arms idly on the great bough that +crossed in front of the seat and listened to the 'Caw--caw!' of the +rooks as they looked to see if the acorns were yet ripening. A dead +branch that had dropped partly into the brook was swayed continually up +and down by the current, the water as it chafed against it causing a +delicious murmur. This lulled me to sleep. + +I woke with a start, and had it not been for the bough crossing in front +must have fallen twenty feet. Looking down into the meadow as soon as my +eyes were thoroughly open, I instantly noticed a covey of young +partridges a little way up beside the hedge among the molehills. The +neighbourhood of those hillocks has an attraction for many birds, +especially in winter. Then fieldfares, redwings, starlings, and others +prefer the meadows that are dotted with them. In a frost if you see a +thrush on a molehill it is very likely to thaw shortly. Moles seem to +feel the least change in the temperature of the earth; if it slackens +they begin to labour, and cast up, unwittingly, food for the thrushes. + +It would have been easy to kill three or four of the covey, which was a +small one, at a single shot; but it had been a late summer, and they +were not full-grown. Besides which, they roosted, I knew, about the +middle of the meadow, and to shoot them near the roost would be certain +to break them up, and perhaps drive them into Southlands. 'Good poachers +preserve their own game:' so the birds fed safely, though a pot shot +would not have seemed, the crime then that it would now. While I watched +them suddenly the old bird 'quat,' and ran swiftly into the hedge, +followed by the rest. A kestrel was hovering in the next meadow: when +the beat of his wings ceased he slid forward and downwards, then rose +and came over me in a bold curve. Well those little brown birds in the +blackthorn knew that, fierce as he was, he dared not swoop even on a +comparatively open bush, much less such thick covert, for fear of +ruffling his proud feathers and beating them out. Nor could he follow +them through the intricate hidden passages. + +In the open water of the pond a large jack was basking in the sunshine, +just beneath the surface; and though the shot would scatter somewhat +before reaching him, he was within range. If a fish lies a few inches +under water he is quite safe from shot unless the muzzle of the gun is +so close that the pellets travel together like a bullet. At a distance +the shot is supposed to glance as it strikes the water at an angle; for +that reason the elevation of the tree was an advantage, since from it +the charge would plunge into the pool. A jack may be killed in some +depth of water when the gun is nearly perpendicularly above the mark; +but in any case the aim must be taken two inches or more, according to +circumstances, beneath the apparent position of the fish, to allow for +refraction. + +Sometimes the jack when hit comes to the surface belly upwards, but +sometimes keeps down or sinks, and floats a considerable distance away +from the spot; so that in the muddy water disturbed by the shot it is +difficult to find him. If a snake be shot at while swimming he will +sometimes sink like a stone, and can be seen lying motionless at the +bottom. After we got hold of a small deer rifle we used to practise at +the snakes in the mere--aiming at the head, which is about the size of a +nut, and shows above the surface wobbling as they move. I recollect +cutting a snake's head clean off with a ball from a pistol as he +hastened away through the grass. + +In winter, when the jacks came up and lay immediately under the ice, +they could be easily shot. The pellets cut a round hole through an inch +and a half of ice. The jack now basking in the pond was the more +tempting because we had often tried to wire him in vain. The difficulty +was to get him if hit. While I was deliberating a crow came flying low +down the leaze, and alighted by the pond. His object, no doubt, was a +mussel. He could not have seen me, and yet no sooner did he touch the +ground than he looked uneasily about, sprang up, and flew straight away, +as if he had smelt danger. Had he stayed he would have been shot, though +it would have spoiled my ambush: the idea of the crows picking out the +eyes of dying creatures was always peculiarly revolting to me. + +If the pond was a haunt of his, it was too near the young partridges, +which were weakly that season. A kestrel is harmless compared to a crow. +Surely the translators have wrongly rendered Don Quixote's remark that +the English did not kill crows, believing that King Arthur, instead of +dying, was by enchantment turned into one, and so fearing to injure the +hero. Must he not have meant a rook? [Note: It has since been pointed out +to me that the Don may have meant a raven] + +Soon afterwards something moved out of the mound into the meadow a long +distance up: it was a hare. He came slowly along beside the hedge +towards me--now stopping and looking into it as if seeking a convenient +place for a form, having doubtless been disturbed from that he had first +chosen. It was some minutes before he came within range: had I been on +the ground most likely he would have scented me, the light air going +that way; but being in, the tree the wind that passed went high over +him. For this reason a tree ambush is deadly. It was necessary to get +the line of sight clear of twigs, which check and divert shot, and to +take a steady aim; for I had no second barrel, no dog, and had to +descend the tree before running. Some leaves were blackened by the +flame: the hare simply fell back, stretched his hind legs, quivered, and +lay still. Part of the leaf of a plant was fixed in his teeth; he had +just had a nibble. + +With this success I was satisfied that day; but the old oak was always a +favourite resort, even when nothing particular was in hand. From thence, +too, as a base of operations, we made expeditions varying in their +object with the season of the year. + +Some distance beyond the stunted oak the thick blackthorn hedge was +succeeded by a continuous strip of withy-bed bordering the brook. It +often occurred to us that by entering these withies it would be possible +to reconnoitre one side of Southlands; for the stream skirted the lower +grounds: the tall willows would conceal any one passing through them. So +one spring morning the attempt was made. + +It was necessary to go on hands and knees through the mowing grass for +some yards while passing an open space where the blackthorn cover ended, +and then to leap a broad ditch that divided the withy-beds from the +meadow. The lissom willow wands parted easily and sprang back to their +places behind, leaving scarce a trace. Their slender tops rose overhead; +beneath, long dead grasses, not yet quite supplanted by the spring +growth, filled the space between. These rustled a little under foot, but +so faint a sound could scarcely have been audible outside; and had any +one noticed it it would have been attributed to a hare or a fox moving: +both are fond of lying in withy-beds when the ground is dry. + +The way to walk noiselessly is to feel with the foot before letting your +weight press on it; then the dead stick or fallen hemlock is discovered +and avoided. A dead stick cracks; the dry hollow hemlock gives a +splintering sound when crushed. These old hemlock stems were numerous in +places, together with 'gicksies,' as the haymakers call a plant that +resembles it, but has a ribbed or fluted instead of a smooth stalk. The +lads use a long 'gicks' cut between the joints as a tube to blow haws or +peggles at the girls. When thirsty, and no ale is handy, the men search +for one to suck up water with from the brook. It is difficult to find +one free from insects, which seem to be remarkably fond of anything +hollow. The haymakers do not use the hemlock, thinking it would poison +the water; they think, too, that drinking through a tube is safer when +they are in a great heat from the sun than any other way. + +Nor is it so easy to drink from a stream without this simple aid. If the +bank be flat it is wet, and what looks like the grass of the meadow +really grows out of the water; so that there it is not possible to be at +full length. If the bank be dry the level of the water is several inches +lower, and in endeavouring to drink the forehead is immersed; often the +water is so much lower than its banks that it is quite impossible to +drink from it lying. By the edge grasses, water-plantains, +forget-me-nots, frequently fill the space within reach. If you brush +these aside it disturbs the bottom, and the mud rises, or a patch of +brown 'scum' comes up and floats away. A cup, though gently used, +generally draws some insects in with the water, though the liquid itself +be pure. Lapping with the hollowed palm requires practice, and, unless +the spot be free from weeds and of some little depth, soon disturbs the +bottom. But the tube can be inserted in the smallest clear place, and +interferes with nothing. + +Each of us carried a long hazel rod, and the handle of a 'squailer' +projected from Orion's coat-pocket. For making a 'squailer' a teacup was +the best mould: the cups then in use in the country were rather larger +than those at present in fashion. A ground ash sapling with the bark on, +about as thick as the little finger, pliant and tough, formed the shaft, +which was about fifteen inches long. This was held upright in the middle +of a teacup, while the mould was filled with molten lead. It soon +cooled, and left a heavy conical knob on the end of the stick. If +rightly thrown it was a deadly missile, and would fly almost as true as +a rifle ball. A rabbit or leveret could thus be knocked over; and it was +peculiarly adapted for fetching a squirrel out of a tree, because, being +so heavy at one end, it rarely lodged on the boughs, as an ordinary +stick would, but overbalanced and came down. + +From the outlook of the oak some aspen trees could be seen far up in the +withy-beds; and it had been agreed that there the first essay of the +stream should be made. On arriving at these trees we paused, and began +to fix the wires on the hazel rods. The wire for fish must slip very +easily, and the thinner it is, if strong enough, the better, because it +takes a firmer grip. A single wire will do; but two thin ones are +preferable. Thin copper wire is as flexible as thread. Brass wire is not +so good; it is stiffer, and too conspicuous in the water. + +At the shank end a stout string is attached in the middle of its length. +Then the wire is placed against the rod, lying flat upon it for about +six inches. The strings are now wound round tightly in opposite +directions, binding it to the stick, so that at the top the ends cross +and are in position to tie in the slight notch cut for the purpose. A +loop that will allow four fingers to enter together is about large +enough, though of course it must be varied according to the size of the +jack in view. Heavy jacks are not often wired, and scarcely ever in +brooks. + +For jack the shape of the loop should be circular; for trout it should +be oval, and considerably larger in proportion to the apparent bulk of +the fish. Jack are straight-grown and do not thicken much in the middle; +with trout it is different. The noose should be about six inches from +the top of the rod. Orion said he would go twenty yards farther up; I +went direct from the centre of the withy-bed to the stream. + +The bank rose a little above the level of the withy-bed; it was a broad +mound full of ash stoles and willow--the sort that is grown for poles. +At that spot the vines of wild hops had killed all the underwood, +leaving open spaces between the stoles; the vines were matted so thickly +that they hid the ground. This was too exposed a place, so I went back +and farther up till I could just hear Orion rustling through the +hemlocks. Here the dead grass and some elder bushes afforded shelter, +and the water could be approached unseen. + +It was about six or eight inches deep; the opposite shore was bordered +for several yards out with flags and rushes. The cattle nibbled their +tender tops off, as far as they could reach; farther out they were +pushing up straight and pointed. The rib and groove of the flag so +closely resemble those of the ancient bayonet that it might be supposed +the weapon was modelled from the plant. Indoors among the lumber there +was a rusty old bayonet that immediately called forth the comparison: +the modern make seem more triangular. + +The rushes grew nearer the shore of the meadow--the old ones yellow, the +young green: in places this fringe of rush and sedge and flag must have +been five or six yards wide, and it extended as far as could be seen up +the brook. No doubt the cattle trod in the edge of the firm ground by +degrees every year to get at the water, and thus widened the marsh. It +was easy to understand now why all the water-fowl, teal and duck, +moorhen and snipe, seemed in winter to make in this direction. + +The ducks especially exercised all our ingenuity and quite exhausted our +patience in the effort to get near them in winter. In the large +water-meadows a small flock sometimes remained all day: it was possible +to approach near enough by stalking behind the hedges to see the colour +of the mallards; but they were always out of gunshot. This place must be +full of teal then; as for moorhens, there were signs of them everywhere, +and several feeding in the grass. The thought of the sport to be got +here when the frosty days came was enough to make one wild. + +After a long look across, I began to examine the stream near at hand: +the rushes and flags had forced the clear sweet current away from the +meadow, so that it ran just under the bank. I was making out the brown +sticks at the bottom, when there was a slight splash--caused by Orion +about ten yards farther up--and almost at the same instant something +shot down the brook towards me. He had doubtless landed a jack, and its +fellow rushed away. Under a large dead bough that had fallen across its +top in the stream I saw the long slender fish lying a few feet from the +bank, motionless save for the gentle curving wave of the tail edges. So +faint was that waving curl that it seemed caused rather by the flow of +the current than the volition of the fish. The wings of the swallow +work the whole of the longest summer day, but the fins of the fish in +running water are never still: day and night they move continuously. + +By slow degrees I advanced the hazel rod, keeping it at first near to +and parallel with the bank, because jack do not like anything that +stretches across them; and I imagine other fish have the same dislike to +right angles. The straight shadow even seems to arouse suspicion--no +boughs are ever straight. Perhaps, if it were possible to angle without +a rod, there would be more success, particularly in small streams. But +after getting the stick almost out far enough, it became evident that +the dead branch would not let me slip the wire into the water in front +of the jack in the usual way. So I had to draw it back again as +gradually as it had been put forth. + +With fish everything must be done gradually and without a jerk. A sudden +jerking movement immediately alarms them. If you walk gently by they +remain still, but start or lift the arm quickly and they dart for deep +water. The object of withdrawing the rod was to get at and enlarge the +loop in order that it might be slipped over his tail, since the head was +protected by the bough. It is a more delicate operation to pass the wire +up from behind; it has to go farther before the spot that allows a firm +grip is reached, and fish are well aware that natural objects such as +twigs float down with the current. Anything, therefore, approaching from +behind or rubbing upwards is suspicious. As this fish had just been +startled, it would not do to let the wire touch him at all. + +After enlarging the loop I put the rod slowly forth again, worked the +wire up stream, slipped the noose over his tail, and gently got it up to +the balance of the fish. Waiting a moment to get the elbow over the end +of the rod so as to have a good leverage, I gave a sudden jerk upwards, +and felt the weight instantly. But the top of the rod struck the +overhanging bough, and there was my fish, hung indeed, but still in the +water near the surface. Nor could I throw it on the bank, because of the +elder bushes. So I shortened the rod, pulling it in towards me quickly +and dragging the jack through the water. The pliant wire had cut into +the scales and skin--he might have been safely left suspended over the +stream all day; but in the eagerness of the moment I was not satisfied +till I had him up on the mound. + +We did not see much of Southlands, because the withy-beds were on the +lowest ground; but there were six jacks strung on a twisted withy when +we got back to the stunted oak and rested there tasting acid sorrel +leaves. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + + +EGG-TIME. A 'GIP'-TRAP + + +There is no sweeter time in the woods than just before the nesting +begins in earnest. Is it the rising sap that causes a pleasant odour to +emanate from every green thing? Idling along the hedgerows towards the +woodlands there may perchance be seen small tufts of white rabbit's fur +in the grass, torn from herself by the doe to form a warm lining to the +hole in which her litter will appear: a 'sign' this that often guides a +robber to her nest. + +Yonder on the rising ground, towering even in their fall over the low +(lately cut) ash plantation, lie the giant limbs of the mighty oaks, +thrown just as they felt the quickening heat. The bark has been stripped +from the trunk and branches; the sun has turned the exposed surface to a +deep buff colour, which contrasts with the fresh green of the underwood +around and renders them visible afar. + +When the oak first puts forth its buds the woods take a ruddy tint. +Gradually the background of green comes to the front, and the oak-apples +swell, streaked with rosy stains, whence their semblance to the edible +fruit of the orchard. All unconscious of the white or red cross daubed +on the rough bark, the tree prepares its glory of leaf, though doomed +the while by that sad mark to the axe. + +Cutting away the bushes with his billhook, the woodman next swings the +cumbrous grub-axe, whose wide edge clears the earth from the larger +roots. Then he puts his pipe in his pocket, and settles to the serious +work of the 'great axe,' as he calls it. I never could use this ungainly +tool aright: a top-heavy, clumsy, awkward thing, it rules you instead of +you ruling it. The handle, too, is flat--almost with an edge itself +sometimes--and is quite beyond the grasp of any but hands of iron. Now +the American axe feels balanced like a sword; this is because of the +peculiar curve of the handle. To strike you stand with the left foot +slightly forward, and the left hand uppermost: the 'S' curve (it is of +course not nearly so crooked as the letter) of the American axe adjusts +itself to the anatomy of the attitude, so to speak. + +The straight English handle does not; it is stiff, and strains the +muscles; but the common 'great axe' has the advantage that it is also +used for splitting logs and gnarled 'butts.' An American axe is too +beautiful a tool for that rude work. The American was designed to strike +at the trunk of the tree several feet from the ground, the English axe +is always directed to the great roots at the base. + +A dexterous woodman can swing his tool alternately left hand or right +hand uppermost. The difference looks trifling; but try it, and you will +be astonished at the difficulty. The blows echo and the chips fly, till +the base of the tree, that naturally is much larger, is reduced to the +size of the trunk or less. Now a pause, while one swarms up to 'line' +it--_i.e._ to attach a rope as high as possible to guide the 'stick' in +its fall. + +It is commonly said that in climbing it is best to look up--a maxim that +has been used for moral illustrations; but it is a mistake. In ascending +a tree you should never look higher than the brim of your hat, unless +when quite still and resting on a branch; temporary blindness would be +the penalty in this case. Particles of decayed bark, the borings of +insects in dead wood, dust, and fragments of twigs, rush down in little +streams and fill the eyes. The quantity of woody powder that adheres to +a tree is surprising; every motion dislodges it from a thousand minute +crevices. As for firs, in climbing a fir one cannot look up at all--dead +sticks, needles, and dust pour down, and the branches are so thick +together that the head has to be forced through them. The line fixed, +the saw is applied, and by slow degrees the butt cut nearly through. +Unless much overbalanced on one side by the limbs, an oak will stand on +a still day when almost off. + +Some now seize the rope, and alternately pull and slacken, which gives +the tree a tottering movement. One more daring than the rest drives a +wedge into the saw-cut as it opens when the tree sways. It sways--it +staggers; a loud crack as the fibres part, then with a slow heave over +it goes, and, descending, twists upon the base. The vast limbs plough +into the sward; the twigs are crushed; the boughs, after striking the +earth, rebound and swish upwards. See that you stand clear, for the +least branch will thresh you down. The flat surface of the exposed butt +is blue with stains from the steel of the saw. + +Light taps with a small sharp axe, that cut the rind but no deeper, ring +the trunk at intervals. Then the barking irons are inserted; they are +rods of iron forged at the top something like a narrow shallow spoon. +The bark from the trunk comes off in huge semi-cylinders almost large +enough for a canoe. But that from the branches is best. You may mark how +at the base the bark is two inches thick, lessening to a few lines on +the topmost boughs. If it sticks a little, hammer it with the iron: it +peels with a peculiar sound, and the juicy sap glistens white between. +It is this that, drying in the sun, gives the barked tree its colour: in +time the wood bleaches paler, and after a winter becomes grey. Inside, +the bark is white streaked with brown; presently it will be all brown. +While some strip it, others collect the pieces, and with them build +toy-like sheds of bark, which is the manner of stacking it. + +From the peeled tree there rises a sweet odour of sap: the green mead, +the green underwood and hawthorn around, are all lit up with the genial +sunbeams. The beautiful wind-anemones are gone, too tender and lovely +for so rude an earth; but the wild hyacinths droop their blue bells +under the wood, and the cowslips rise in the grass. The nightingale +sings without ceasing; the soft 'coo-coo' of the dove sounds hard by; +the merry cuckoo calls as he flies from elm to elm; the wood-pigeons +rise and smite their wings together over the firs. In the mere below the +coots are at play; they chase each other along the surface of the water +and indulge in wild evolutions. Everything is happy. As the plough-boys +stroll along they pluck the young succulent hawthorn leaves and nibble +them. + +It is the sweetest time of all for wandering in the wood. The brambles +have not yet grown so bushy as to check the passage; the thistles that +in autumn will be as tall as the shoulder and thick as a walking-stick +are as yet no bar; burrs do not attach themselves at every step, though +the broad burdock leaves are spreading wide. In its full development the +burdock is almost a shrub rather than a plant, with a woody stem an inch +or more in diameter. + +Up in the fir trees the nests of the pigeons are sometimes so big that +it appears as if they must use the same year after year, adding fresh +twigs, else they could hardly attain such bulk. Those in the ash-poles +are not nearly so large. In the open drives blue cartridge-cases lie +among the grass, the brass part tarnished by the rain, thrown hurriedly +aside from the smoking breech last autumn. But the guns are silent in +the racks, though the keeper still carries his gun to shoot the vermin, +which are extremely busy at this season. Vermin, however, do not quite +agree among themselves: weasels and stoats are deadly enemies of mice +and rats. Where rats are plentiful there they are sure to come; they +will follow a rat into a dwelling-house. + +Here the green drive shows traces of the poaching it received from the +thick-planted hoofs of the hunt when the leaves were off and the blast +of the horn sounded fitfully as the gale carried the sound away. The +vixen is now at peace, though perhaps it would scarcely be safe to +wander too near the close-shaven mead where the keeper is occupied more +and more every day with his pheasant-hatching. And far down on the +lonely outlying farms, where even in fox-hunting England the music of +the hounds is hardly heard in three years (because no great coverts +cause the run to take that way), foul murder is sometimes done on +Reynard or his family. A hedge-cutter marks the sleeping-place in the +withies where the fox curls up by day; and with his rusty gun, that +sometimes slaughters a roaming pheasant, sends the shot through the red +side of the slumbering animal. Then, thrust ignobly into a sack, he +shoulders the fox and marches round from door to door, tumbling the limp +body rudely down on the pitching stones to prove that the fowls will now +be safe, and to be rewarded with beer and small coin. A dead fox is +profit to him for a fortnight. These evil deeds of course are cloaked as +far as possible. + +Leaving now the wood for the lane that wanders through the meadows, a +mower comes sidling up, and, looking mysteriously around with his hand +behind under his coat, 'You med have un for sixpence,' he says, and +produces a partridge into whose body the point of the scythe ran as she +sat on her nest in the grass, and whose struggles were ended by a blow +from the rubber or whetstone flung at her head. He has got the eggs +somewhere hidden under a swathe. + +The men that are so expert at finding partridges' eggs to sell to the +keepers know well beforehand whereabouts the birds are likely to lay. If +a stranger who had made no previous observations went into the fields to +find these eggs, with full permission to do so, he would probably wander +in vain. The grass is long, and the nest has little to distinguish it +from the ground; the old bird will sit so close that one may pass almost +over her. Without a right of search in open daylight the difficulty is +of course much greater. A man cannot quarter the fields when the crop is +high and leave no trail. + +Farmers object to the trampling and damage of their property; and a +keeper does not like to see a labourer loafing about, because he is not +certain that the eggs when found will be conscientiously delivered to +him. They may be taken elsewhere, or they may even be broken out of +spite if the finder thinks he has a grudge to repay. Now that every +field is enclosed, and for the most part well cultivated and looked +after, the business of the egg-stealer is considerably diminished. He +cannot roam over the country at his fancy; his egg-finding is nearly +restricted to the locality of which he possesses minute knowledge. + +Thus workmen engaged in the towns, but sleeping several miles out in the +villages, can keep a register of the slight indications they observe +morning after morning as they cross the fields by the footpath to their +labour. Early in the spring they notice that the partridges have paired: +as time advances they see the pair day after day in the same meadow, and +mark the spot. Those who work in the fields, again, have still better +opportunities: the bird-keeping lads too have little else to do at that +season than watch for nests. In the meadows the labourer as he walks to +and fro with the 'bush' passes over every inch of the ground. The 'bush' +is a mass of thorn bushes fixed in a frame and drawn by a horse; it acts +like a light harrow, and leaves the meadow in strips like the pile of +green velvet, stroked in narrow bands, one this way, one that, laying +the grass blades in the directions it travels. Solitary work of this +kind--for it requires but one man--is very favourable to observation. +When the proper time arrives the searcher knows within a little where +the nest must be, and has but a small space to beat. + +The pheasant being so large a bird, its motions are easy to watch; and +the nest is speedily found, because, being in the hedge or under bushes, +there is a definite place in which to look, instead of the broad surface +of the field. Pheasants will get out of the preserves in the breeding +season and wander into the mounds, so that the space the keeper has to +range is then enlarged threefold. Both pheasants and partridges are +frequently killed on their nests; when the eggs are hard the birds +remain to the last moment, and are often knocked over. + +Besides poachers, the eggs have to run the chance of being destroyed by +carrion crows, and occasionally by rooks. Rooks, though generally +cleanly feeders, will at times eat almost anything, from a mussel to a +fledgeling bird. Magpies and jays are accused of being equally dangerous +enemies of eggs and young birds, and so too are snakes. Weasels, stoats, +and rats spare neither egg, parents, nor offspring. Some of the dogs +that run wild will devour eggs; and hawks pounce on the brood if they +see an opportunity. Owls are said to do the same. The fitchew, the +badger, and the hedgehog have a similarly evil reputation; but the first +is rare, the second almost exterminated in many districts; the +third--the poor hedgehog--is common, and some keepers have a bitter +dislike to them. Swine are credited, with the same mischief as the worst +of vermin at this particular season; but nowadays swine are not allowed +to run wild in cultivated districts, except in the autumn when the +acorns are falling. + +As the nests are on the ground they are peculiarly accessible, and the +eggs, being large, are tempting. Perhaps the mowing machine is as +destructive as anything; and after all these there is the risk of a wet +season and of disease. Let the care exercised be never so great, a +certain amount of mortality must occur. + +While the young partridges gradually become strong and swift, the nuts +are increasing in size, and ripening upon the bough. The very hazel has +a pleasant sound--not a nut-tree hedge existed in the neighbourhood that +we did not know and visit. We noted the progress of the bushes from the +earliest spring, and the catkins to the perfect nut. + +There are threads of brilliant scarlet upon the hazel in February, +though the gloom of winter lingers and the 'Shuck--a--sheck!' of the +fieldfare fleeing before the snow sounds overhead. On the slender +branches grow green ovals, from whose tips tiny scarlet plumes rise and +curl over. + +It often happens that while the tall rods with speckled bark grow +vigorously the stole is hollow and decaying when the hardy fern +flourishes around it. Before the summer ricks are all carted the nuts +are full of sweet milky matter, and the shell begins to harden. A hazel +bough with a good crook is then sought by the men that are thinking of +the wheat harvest: they trim it for a 'vagging' stick, with which to +pull the straw towards them. True reaping is now never seen: 'vagging' +makes the short stubble that forces the partridges into the turnips. +Maple boughs, whose bark is so strongly ribbed, are also good for +'vagging' sticks. + +Nut-tree is used for bonds to tie up faggots, and split for the +shepherds' hurdles. In winter sometimes a store of nuts and acorns may +be seen fallen in a stream down the side of a bank, scratched out from a +mouse's hole, as they say, by Reynard, who devours the little provident +creature without regard for its wisdom. So that man and wild animals +derive pleasure or use from the hazel in many ways. When the nuts are +ripe the carters' lads do not care to ride sideways on the broad backs +of the horses as they jog homewards along the lane, but are ever in the +hedges. + +There were plenty in the double-mounds to which we had access; but the +shepherd, who had learned his craft on the Downs, said that the nuts +grew there in such immense quantities as determined us to see them. +Sitting on the felled ash under the shade of the hawthorn hedge, where +the butcher-birds every year used to stick the humble-bees on the +thorns, he described the route--a mere waggon track--and the situation +of the largest copses. + +The waggon track we found crossed the elevated plains close under and +between the Downs, following at the foot, as it seemed, for an endless +distance the curve of a range. The slope bounded the track on one side: +on the other it was enclosed by a low bank covered with dead thorn +thickly entangled, which enclosed the cornfields. The space between the +hedge and the hill was as far as we could throw one of the bleached +flints lying on the sward. It was dotted with hawthorn trees and furze, +and full of dry brown grass. A few scattered firs, the remnants of +extinct plantations, grew on the slope, and green 'fairy rings' marked +it here and there. + +These fairy rings have a somewhat different appearance from the dark +green semicircles found in the meadows and called by the same name: the +latter are often only segments of circles, are found near hedges, and +almost always either under a tree or where a tree has been. There were +more mushrooms on the side of the hill than we cared to carry. Some eat +mushrooms raw--fresh as taken from the ground, with a little salt: to me +the taste is then too strong. Of the many ways of cooking them the +simplest is the best; that is, on a gridiron over wood embers on the +hearth. + +Every few minutes a hare started out of the dry grass: he always +scampered up the Down and stopped to look at us from the ridge. The hare +runs faster up hill than down. By the cornfields there were wire +nettings to stop them; but nothing is easier than for any passer-by who +feels an interest in hares and rabbits, and does not like to see them +jealously excluded, to open a gap. Hares were very numerous--temptingly +so. Not far from where the track crossed a lonely road was a gipsy +encampment; that swarthy people are ever about when anything is going +on, and the reapers were busy in the corn. The dead dry thorns of the +hedge answered very well to boil their pot with. Their tents, formed by +thrusting the ends of long bent rods like half-hoops into the turf, +looked dark like the canvas of a barge. + +These 'gips'--country folk do not say gipsy--were unknown to us; but we +were on terms with some members of a tribe who called at our house +several times in the course of the year to buy willow. The men wore +golden earrings, and bought 'Black Sally,' a withy that has a dark bark, +for pegs, and 'bolts' of osier for basket-making. A bolt is a bundle of +forty inches in circumference. Though the women tell fortunes, and mix +the 'dark man' and the 'light man,' the 'journey' and the 'letter' to +perfection, till the ladies half believe, I doubt if they know much of +true palmistry. The magic of the past always had a charm for me. I had +learned to know the lines, from that which winds along at the base of +the thumb-ball and if clear means health and long life, to that which +crosses close to the fingers and indicates the course of love, and had +traced them on many a delicate palm. So that the 'gips' could tell me +nothing new. + +The women are the hardiest in the country; they simply ignore the +weather. Even the hedgers and ditchers and the sturdiest labourers +choose the lee side of the hedge when they pause to eat their luncheons; +but the 'gips' do not trouble to seek such shelter. Passing over the +hills one winter's day, when the Downs looked all alike, being covered +with snow, I came across a 'gip' family sitting on the ground in a lane, +old and young exposed to the blast. In that there was nothing +remarkable, but I recollect it because the young mother, handsome in the +style of her race, had her neck and brown bust quite bare, and the white +snowflakes drove thickly aslant upon her. Their complexion looks more +dusky in winter, so that the contrast of the colours made me wish for an +artist to paint it. And he might have put the grey embers of a fire gone +out, and the twisted stem of a hawthorn bush with red haws above. + +A mile beyond the gipsy tents we entered among the copses: scattered ash +plantations, and hazel thickets with narrow green tracks between. +Further in, the nut-tree bushes were more numerous, and we became +separated though within call. Presently a low whistle like the peewit's +(our signal) called me to Orion. On the border of a thicket, near an +open field of swedes, he had found a hare in a wire. It was a +beauty--the soft fur smooth to stroke, not so much as a shot-hole in the +black-marked ears. Wired or netted hares and rabbits are much preferred +by the dealers to those that have been shot--and so, too, netted +partridges--because they look so clean and tempt the purchaser. The +blacksmith Ikey, who bought our rabbits, used to sew up the shot wounds +when they were much knocked about, and trimmed up the shattered ones in +the cleverest way. + +To pull up the plug and take wire and hare too was the first impulse; +yet we hesitated. Why did the man who set the snare let his game lie +till that hour of the day? He should have visited it long before: it had +a suspicious look altogether. It would also have been nearly impossible +to carry the hare so many miles by daylight and past villages: even with +the largest pockets it would have been doubtful, for the hare had +stiffened as he lay stretched out. So, carefully replacing him just as +we found him, we left the spot and re-entered the copse. + +The shepherd certainly was right; the quantity of nuts was immense: the +best and largest bunches grew at the edge of the thickets, perhaps +because they received more air and light than the bushes within that +were surrounded by boughs. It thus happened that we were in the green +pathway when some one suddenly spoke from behind, and, turning, there +was a man in a velveteen jacket who had just stepped out of the bushes. +The keeper was pleasant enough and readily allowed us to handle his +gun--a very good weapon, though a little thin at the muzzle--for a man +likes to see his gun admired. He said there were finer nuts in a valley +he pointed out, and then carefully instructed us how to get back into +the waggon track without returning by the same path. An old barn was the +landmark; and, with a request from him not to break the bushes, he left +us. + +Down in the wooded vale we paused. The whole thing was now clear: the +hare in the wire was a trap laid for the 'gips' whose camp was below. +The keeper had been waiting about doubtless where he could command the +various tracks up the hill, had seen us come that way, and did not wish +us to return in the same direction; because if the 'gip' saw any one at +all he would not approach his snare. Whether the hare had actually been +caught by the wire, or had been put in by the keeper, it was not easy to +tell. + +We wandered on in the valley wood, going from bush to bush, little +heeding whither we went. There are no woods so silent as the nut-tree; +there is scarce a sound in them at that time except the occasional +rustle of a rabbit, and the 'thump, thump' they sometimes make +underground in their buries after a sudden fright. So that the keen +plaintive whistle of a kingfisher was almost startling. But we soon +found the stream in the hollow. Broader than a brook and yet not quite a +river, it flowed swift and clear, so that every flint at the bottom was +visible. The nut-tree bushes came down to the edge: the ground was too +firm for much rush or sedge; the streams that come out of the chalk are +not so thickly fringed with vegetation as others. + +Some little way along there was a rounded sarsen boulder not far from +shore, whose brown top was so nearly on a level with the surface that at +one moment the water just covered it, and the next left it exposed. By +it we spied a trout; but the hill above gave 'Velvet' the command of the +hollow; and it was too risky even to think of. After that the nuts were +tame; there was nothing left but to turn homewards. As for +trout-fishing, there is nothing so easy. Take the top joint off the rod, +and put the wire on the second, which is stronger, fill the basket, and +replace the fly. There were fellows who used to paddle in canoes up a +certain river (not this little stream), pick out the largest trout, and +shoot them with pistols, under pretence of practising at water-rats. + + + + + +CHAPTER V + + + +WOODLAND TWILIGHT: TRAITORS ON THE GIBBET + + +In a hedge that joined a wood, and about a hundred yards from it, there +was a pleasant hiding-place beside a pollard ash. The bank was hollow +with rabbit-buries: the summer heat had hardened the clay of the mound +and caused it to crack and crumble wherever their excavations left a +precipitous edge. Some way up the trunk of the tree an immense flat +fungus projected, roughly resembling the protruding lip of a savage +enlarged by the insertion of a piece of wood. If formed a black ledge +standing out seven or eight inches, two or three inches thick, and +extending for a foot or more round the bark. The pollard, indeed, was +dead inside, and near the ground the black touch-wood showed. Ash timber +must become rarer year by year: for, being so useful, it is constantly +cut down, while few new saplings are planted or encouraged to become +trees. + +In front a tangled mass of bramble arched over the dry ditch; it was +possible to see some distance down the bank, for nothing grew on the top +itself, the bushes all rising from either side--a peculiarity of clay +mounds. This narrow space was a favourite promenade of the rabbits; they +usually came out there for a few minutes first, looking about before +venturing forth into the meadows. Except a little moss, scarcely any +vegetation other than underwood clothed the bare hard soil of the mound; +and for this reason every tiny aperture that suited their purpose was +occupied by wasps. + +They much prefer a clear space about the entrance to their nests, +affording an unencumbered passage: there were two nests within a few +yards of the ash. Though so generally dreaded, wasps are really +inoffensive insects, never attacking unless previously buffeted. You may +sit close to a wasps' nest for hours, and, if you keep still, receive no +injury. Humble-bees, too, congregate in special localities: along one +hedge half a dozen nests may be found, while other fields are searched +for them in vain. + +The best time to enter such a hiding-place is a little before the sun +sinks: for as his beams turn red all the creatures that rest during the +day begin to stir. Then the hares start down from the uplands and appear +on the short stubble, where the level rays throw exaggerated shadows +behind them. When six or eight hares are thus seen near the centre of a +single field, they and their shadows seem to take possession of and +occupy it. + +Pheasants, though they retire to roost on the trees, often before rising +come forth into the meadows adjacent to the coverts. The sward in front +of the pollard ash sloped upwards gradually to the foot of a low hill +planted with firs, and just outside these about half a dozen pheasants +regularly appeared in the early evening. As the sun sank below the hill, +and the shadow of the great beeches some distance away began to extend +into the mead, they went back one by one into the firs. There they were +nearly safe, for no trees give so much difficulty to the poacher. It is +not easy even to shoot anything inside a fir plantation at night: as for +the noose, it is almost impossible to use it. The lowest pheasant is +taken first, and then the next above, like fowls perched on the rungs of +a ladder; and, indeed, it is not unlikely that those who excel in this +kind of work base their operations upon previous experiences in the hen +roost. + +The wood pigeons begin to come home, and the wood is filled with their +hollow notes: now here, now yonder, for as one ceases another takes it +up. They cannot settle for some time: each as he arrives perches awhile, +and then rises and tries a fresh place, so that there is a constant +clattering. The green woodpecker approaches at a rapid pace--now +opening, now closing his wings, and seeming to throw himself forward +rather than to fly. He rushes at the trees in the hedge as though he +could pierce the thick branches like a bullet. Other birds rise over or +pass at the side: he goes through, arrow-like, avoiding the boughs. +Instead of at once entering the wood, he stays awhile on the sward of +the mead in the open. + +As the pheasants generally feed in a straight line along the ground, so +the lesser pied woodpecker travels across the fields from tree to tree, +rarely staying on more than one branch in each, but, after examining it, +leaves all that may be on other boughs and seeks another ahead. He rises +round and round the dead branch in the elm, tapping it with blows that +succeed each other with marvellous rapidity. He taps for the purpose of +sounding the wood to see if it be hollow or bored by grubs, and to +startle the insects and make them run out for his convenience. He will +ascend dead branches barely half an inch thick that vibrate as he +springs from them, and proceeds down the hedge towards the wood. The +'snop-top' sounds in every elm, and grows fainter as he recedes. The +sound is often heard, but in the thick foliage of summer the bird +escapes unseen, unless you are sitting almost under the tree when he +arrives in it. + +Then the rooks come drifting slowly to the beeches: they are uncertain +in their hour at this season--some, indeed, scarce care to return at +all; and even when quite dusk and the faint stars of summer rather show +themselves than shine, twos and threes come occasionally through the +gloom. A pair of doves pass swiftly, flying for the lower wood, where +the ashpoles grow. The grasshoppers sing in the grass, and will continue +till the dew descends. As the little bats flutter swiftly to and fro just +without the hedge, the faint sound of their wings is audible as they +turn: their membranes are not so silent as feathers, and they agitate +them with extreme velocity. Beetles go by with a loud hum, rising from +those isolated bunches of grass that may be seen in every field; for the +cows will not eat the rank green blades that grow over and hide dried +dung. + +A large white spot, ill-defined and shapeless in the distance and the +dimness, glides along the edge of the wood, then across in front before +the fir plantation, next down the hedge to the left, and presently +passes within two yards, going towards the wood again along this mound. +It is a white owl: he flies about five feet from the ground and +absolutely without a sound. So when you are walking at night it is quite +startling to have one come overhead, approaching from behind and +suddenly appearing. This owl is almost fearless; unless purposely +alarmed he will scarcely notice you, and not at all if you are still. + +As he reaches the wood he leaves the hedge, having gone all round the +field, and crosses to a small detached circular fir plantation in the +centre. There he goes out of sight a minute or two; but presently +appears skirting the low shed and rickyard yonder, and is finally lost +behind the hedges. This round he will go every evening, and almost +exactly at the same time--that is, in reference to the sun, which is the +clock of nature. + +Step never so quietly out from the mound, the small birds that unnoticed +have come to roost in the bushes will hear it and fly off in alarm. The +rabbits that are near the hedge rush in; those that are far from home +crouch in the furrows and the bunches. Crossing the open field, they +suddenly start as it seems from under your feet--one white tail goes +dapping up and down this way, another jerks over the 'lands' that way. +The moonbeams now glisten on the double-barrel; and a bright sparkle +glitters here and there as a dewdrop catches a ray. + +Upon the grass a faint halo appears; it is a narrow band of light +encircling the path, an oval ring--perhaps rather horseshoe shape than +oval. It glides in front, keeping ever at the same distance as you walk, +as if there the eye was focussed. This is only seen when the grass is +wet with dew, and better in short grass than long. Where it shines the +grass looks a paler green. Passing gently along a hedge thickly timbered +with oak and elms, a hawk may perhaps start forth: hawks sometimes +linger by the hedges till late, but it is not often that you can shoot +one at roost except in spring. Then they invariably return to roost in +the nest tree, and are watched there, and so shot, a gunner approaching +on each side of the hedge. In the lane dark objects--rabbits--hasten +away, and presently the footpath crosses the still motionless brook near +where it flows into the mere. + +The low brick parapet of the bridge is overgrown with mosses; great +hedges grow each side, and the willows, long uncut, almost meet in the +centre. In one hedge an opening leads to a drinking-place for cattle: +peering noiselessly over the parapet between the boughs, the coots and +moorhens may be seen there feeding by the shore. They have come up from +the mere as the ducks and teal do in the winter. The broader waters can +scarcely be netted without a boat, but the brook here is the very place +for a moonlight haul. The net is stretched first across the widest spot +nearest to the pool, that no fish may escape. They swim up here in the +daytime in shoals, perch especially; but the night poachers are often +disappointed, for the fish seem to retire to deeper waters as the +darkness comes on. A black mass of mud-coated sticks, rotten twigs, and +thorn bushes, entangled in the meshes, is often the only result of much +toil. + +Once now and then, as when a preserved pond is netted, a tremendous take +occurs; but nets are rather gone by, being so unwieldy and requiring +several men to manage effectually. If they are not hung out to dry +properly after being used, they soon rot. Now, a large net stretched +along railings or a hedge is rather a conspicuous object, and brings +suspicion on the owner. It is also so heavy after use that until wrung, +which takes time, a strong man can barely carry it; and if a sudden +alarm comes it must be abandoned. + +It is pleasant to rest awhile on the parapet in the shadow of the +bushes. The low thud-thud of sculls in the rowlocks of a distant punt +travels up the water. By-and-by a hare comes along, enters on the +bridge, and almost reaches the gate in the middle before he spies +anything suspicious. Such a spot, and, indeed, any gateway, used to be a +favourite place to set a net, and then drive the hares towards it with a +cur dog that ran silent. Bold must be the man that would set a net in a +footpath now, with almost every field preserved by owner or tenant. With +a bound the hare hies back and across the meadow: the gun comes to the +shoulder as swiftly. + +On the grass lit by the moon the hare looked quite distinct, but the +moment the gaze is concentrated up the barrel he becomes a dim object +with no defined outline. In shooting on the ground by twilight or in the +moonbeams, waste no time in endeavouring to aim, but think of the hare's +ears--say a couple of feet in front of his tail--and the moment the gun +feels steady pull the trigger. The flash and report come together; there +is a dull indescribable sound ahead, as some of the shot strikes home in +fur and some drills into the turf, and then a rustling in the grass. The +moorhens dive, and the coots scuttle down the brook towards the mere at +the flash. While yet the sulphurous smoke lingers, slow to disperse, +over the cool dewy sward, there comes back an echo from the wood behind, +then another from the mere, then another and another beyond. + +The distant sculls have ceased to work in the rowlocks--those in the +punt are listening to the echoes; most likely they have been fishing for +tench in the deep holes under the black shadow of the aspens. (Tench +feed in the dark: if you wish to take a big one wait till it is +necessary to fix a piece of white paper on the float.) Now put the empty +cartridge in your pocket instead of throwing it aside; pull the hare's +neck across your knee, and hurry off. But you may safely stay to harle +him; for those very echoes that have been heard a mile round about are +the best safeguard: not one man in a thousand could tell the true +direction whence the sound of the explosion originated. + +The pleasure of wandering in a wood was so great that it could never be +resisted, and did not solely arise from the instinct of shooting. Many +expeditions were made without a gun, or any implement of destruction, +simply to enjoy the trees and thickets. There was one large wood very +carefully preserved, and so situate in an open country as not to be +easily entered. But a little observation showed that the keeper had a +'habit.' He used to come out across the wheatfields to a small wayside +'public,' and his route passed by a lonely barn and rickyard. One warm +summer day I saw him come as usual to the 'public,' and while he was +there quietly slipped as far as the barn and hid in it. + +In July such a rickyard is very hot; heat radiates from every straw. The +ground itself is dry and hard, each crevice choked with particles of +white chaff; so that even the couch can hardly grow except close under +the low hedge where the pink flower of the pimpernel opens to the sky. +White stone staddles--short conical pillars with broad capitals--stand +awaiting the load of sheaves that will shortly press on them. Every now +and then a rustling in the heaps of straw indicates the presence of +mice. From straw and stone and bare earth heat seems to rise up. The +glare of the sunlight pours from above. The black pitched wooden walls +of the barn and sheds prevent the circulation of air. There are no trees +for shadow--nothing but a few elder bushes, which are crowded at +intervals of a few minutes with sparrows rushing with a whirr of wings +up from the standing corn. + +But the high pitched roof of the barn and of the lesser sheds has a +beauty of its own--the minute vegetation that has covered the tiles +having changed the original dull red to an orange hue. From ridge to +eaves, from end to end, it is a wide expanse of colour, only varying so +much in shade as to save it from monotony. It stands out glowing, +distinct against the deep blue of the sky. The 'cheep' of fledgeling +sparrows comes from the crevices above; but swallows do not frequent +solitary buildings so much as those by dwelling-houses, being especially +fond of cattle-sheds where cows are milked. + +The proximity of animals apparently attracts them: perhaps in the more +exposed places there may be dangers from birds of prey. As for the +sparrows, they are innumerable. Some are marked with white patches--a +few so much so as to make quite a show when they fly. One handsome cock +bird has a white ring half round his neck, and his wings are a beautiful +partridge-brown. He looks larger than the common sort; and there are +several more here that likewise appear to exceed in size, and to have +the same peculiar brown. + +After a while there came the sound of footsteps and a low but cheerful +whistle. The keeper having slaked a thirst very natural on such a sultry +day returned, and re-entered the wood. I had decided that it would be +the best plan to follow in his rear, because then there would be little +chance of crossing his course haphazard, and the dogs would not sniff +any strange footsteps, since the footsteps would not be there till they +had gone by. To hide from the eyes of a man is comparatively easy; but a +dog will detect an unwonted presence in the thickest bush, and run in +and set up a yelping, especially if it is a puppy. + +It was not more than forty yards from the barn to the wood: there was no +mound or hedge, but a narrow, deep, and dry watercourse, a surface +drain, ran across. Stooping a little and taking off my hat, I walked in +this, so that the wheat each side rose above me and gave a perfect +shelter. This precaution was necessary, because on the right there rose +a steep Down, from whose summit the level wheat-fields could be easily +surveyed. So near was it that I could distinguish the tracks of the +hares worn in the short grass. But if you take off your hat no one can +distinguish you in a wheat-field, more particularly if your hair is +light: nor even in a hedge. + +Where the drain or furrow entered the wood was a wire-netting firmly +fixed, and over it tall pitched palings, sharp at the top. The wood was +enclosed with a thick hawthorn hedge that looked impassable; but the +keeper's footsteps, treading down the hedge-parsley and brushing aside +the 'gicks,' guided me behind a bush where was a very convenient gap. +These signs and the smooth-worn bark of an ash against which it was +needful to push proved that this quiet path was used somewhat +frequently. + +Inside the wood the grass and the bluebell leaves--the bloom past and +ripening to seed--so hung over the trail that it was difficult to +follow. It wound about the ash stoles in the most circuitous manner--now +to avoid the thistles, now a bramble thicket, or a hollow filled with +nettles. Then the ash poles were clothed with the glory of the +woodbine--one mass of white and yellow wax-like flowers to a height of +eight or nine feet, and forming a curtain of bloom from branch to +branch. + +After awhile I became aware that the trail was approaching the hill. At +the foot it branched; and the question arose whether to follow the fork +that zig-zagged up among the thickets or that which seemed to plunge +into the recesses beneath. I had never been in this wood before--the +time was selected because it was probable that the keeper would be +extremely occupied with his pheasant chicks. Though the earth was so +hard in the exposed rick-yard, here the clayey ground was still moist +under the shadow of the leaves. Examining the path more closely, I +easily distinguished the impression of the keeper's boot: the iron +toe-plate has left an almost perfect impression, and there were the deep +grooves formed by the claws of his dog as it had scrambled up the +declivity and the pad slipped on the clay. + +As he had taken the upward path, no doubt it led direct to the +pheasants, which was sure to be on the hill itself, or a dry and healthy +slope. I therefore took the other trail, since I must otherwise have +overtaken him; for he would stay long among his chicks: just as an +old-fashioned farmer lingers at a gate, gazing on his sheep. Advancing +along the lower path, after some fifteen minutes it turned sharply to +the right, and I stood under the precipitous cliff-like edge of the hill +in a narrow coombe. The earth at the top hung over the verge, and +beech-trees stood as it seemed in the act to topple, their exposed roots +twisting to and fro before they re-entered the face of the precipice. +Large masses of chalky rubble had actually fallen, and others were all +but detached. The coombe, of course, could be overlooked from thence; +but a moment's reflection convinced me there was no risk, for who would +dare to go near enough to the edge to look down? + +The coombe was full of fir-trees; and by them stood a long narrow +shed--the roof ruinous, but the plank walls intact. It had originally +been erected in a field, since planted for covers. This long shed, a +greenish grey from age and mouldering wood, became a place of much +interest. Along the back there were three rows of weasels and stoats +nailed through the head or neck to the planks. There had been a hundred +in each row--about three hundred altogether. The lapse of time had +entirely dissipated the substance of many on the upper row; nothing +remained but the grim and rusty nail. Further along there hung small +strips without shape. Beyond these the nails supported something that +had a rough outline still of the animal. In the second row the dried and +shrivelled creatures were closely wrapped in nature's mummy-cloth of +green; in the third, some of those last exposed still retained a dull +brown colour. None were recent. Above, under the eaves, the spiders' +webs had thickly gathered; beneath, the nettles flourished. + +But the end of the shed was the place where the more distinguished +offenders were gibbeted. A footpath, well worn and evidently much used, +went by this end, and, as I afterwards ascertained, communicated with +the mansion above and the keeper's cottage some distance below. Every +passenger between must pass the gallows where the show of more noble +traitors gave proof of the keeper's loyal activity. Four shorter rows +rose in tiers. To the nails at the top strong beaks and black feathers +adhered, much bedraggled and ruffled by weather. These crows had long +been dead; the keeper when he shot a crow did not trouble to have it +carried home, unless a nail was conspicuously vacant. The ignoble bird +was left where he fell. + +On the next row the black and white of magpies and the blue of jays +alternated. Many of the magpies had been despoiled of their tails, and +some of their wings, the feathers being saleable. The jays were more +numerous, and untouched; they were slain in such numbers that the market +for their plumage was glutted. Though the bodies were shrunken, the +feathers were in fair condition. Magpies' nests are so large that in +winter, when the leaves are off the trees, they cannot but be seen, and, +the spot being marked, in the summer old and young are easily destroyed. +Hawks filled the third row. The kestrels were the most numerous, but +there were many sparrow-hawks. These made a great show, and were stuck +so closely that a feather could hardly be thrust between them. In the +midst, quite smothered under their larger wings, were the remains of a +smaller bird--probably a merlin. But the last and lowest row, that was +also nearest, or on a level with the face of a person looking at the +gallows, was the most striking. + +This grand tier was crowded with owls--not arranged in any order, but +haphazard, causing a fine mixture of colour. Clearly this gallery was +constantly renewed. The white owl gave the prevalent tint, side by side +with the brown wood owls, and scattered among the rest, a few long +horned owls--a mingling of white, yellowish brown, and tawny feathers. +Though numerous here, yet trap and gun have so reduced the wood owls +that you may listen half the night by a cover and never hear the +'Who-hoo' that seems to demand your name. + +The barn owls are more liable to be shot, because they are more +conspicuous; but, on the other hand, as they often breed and reside away +from covers, they seem to escape. For months past one of these has +sailed by my window every evening uttering a hissing 'skir-r-r.' Here, +some were nailed with their backs to the wall, that they might not hide +their guilty faces. + +The delicate texture of the owl's feathers is very remarkable: these +birds remind me of a huge moth. The owls were more showy than the hawks, +though it is commonly said that without sunlight there is no colour--as +in the case of plants grown in darkness. Yet the hawks are day birds, +while the owls fly by night. There came the sound of footsteps; and I +retreated, casting one glance backward at the black and white, the blue +and brown colours that streaked the wall, while the dull green weasels +were in perpetual shadow. By night the bats would flit round and about +that gloomy place. It would not do to return by the same path, lest +another keeper might be coming up it; so I stepped into the wood itself. +To those who walk only in the roads, hawks and owls seem almost rare. +But a wood is a place to which they all flock; and any wanderer from the +north or west naturally tends thither. This wood is of large extent; but +even to the smaller plantations of the Downs it is wonderful what a +number come in the course of a year. Besides the shed just visited, +there would be certain to be another more or less ornamented near the +keeper's cottage, and probably others scattered about, where the +commoner vermin could be nailed without the trouble of carrying them far +away. Only the owls and hawks, magpies, and such more striking evidences +of slaughter were collected here, and almost daily renewed. + +To get into the wood was much easier than to get out, on account of the +thick hedge, palings, and high sharp-sparred gates; but I found a dry +ditch where it was possible to creep under the bushes into a meadow +where was a footpath. + + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + + +LURCHER-LAND: 'THE PARK' + + +The time of the apple-bloom is the most delicious season in Sarsen +village. It is scarcely possible to obtain a view of the place, although +it is built on the last slope of the Downs, because just where the +ground drops and the eye expects an open space, plantations of fir and +the tops of tall poplars and elms intercept the glance. In ascending +from the level meadows of the vale thick double mounds, heavily timbered +with elm, hide the houses until you are actually in their midst. + +Those only know a country who are acquainted with its footpaths. By the +roads, indeed, the outside may be seen; but the footpaths go through the +heart of the land. There are routes by which mile after mile may be +travelled without leaving the sward. So you may pass from village to +village; now crossing green meads, now cornfields, over brooks, past +woods, through farmyard and rick 'barken.' But such tracks are not +mapped, and a stranger misses them altogether unless under the guidance +of an old inhabitant. + +At Sarsen the dusty road enters the more modern part of the village at +once, where the broad signs hang from the taverns at the cross-ways and +where the loafers steadily gaze at the new comer. The Lower Path, after +stile and hedge and elm, and grass that glows with golden buttercups, +quietly leaves the side of the double mounds and goes straight through +the orchards. There are fewer flowers under the trees, and the grass +grows so long and rank that it has already fallen aslant of its own +weight. It is choked, too, by masses of clog-weed, that springs up +profusely over the site of old foundations; so that here ancient masonry +may be hidden under the earth. Indeed, these orchards are a survival +from the days when the monks laboured in vineyard and garden, and mayhap +even of earlier times. When once a locality has got into the habit of +growing a certain crop it continues to produce it for century after +century; and thus there are villages famous for apple or pear or cherry, +while the district at large is not at all given to such culture. + +The trunks of the trees succeed each other in endless ranks, like +columns that support the most beautiful roof of pink and white. Here the +bloom is rosy, there white prevails: the young green is hidden under the +petals that are far more numerous than leaves, or even than leaves will +be. Though the path really is in shadow as the branches shut out the +sun, yet it seems brighter here than in the open, as if the place were +illuminated by a million tiny lamps shedding the softest lustre. The +light is reflected and apparently increased by the countless flowers +overhead. + +The forest of bloom extends acre after acre, and only ceases where +hedges divide, to commence again beyond the boundary. A wicket gate, all +green with a film of vegetation over the decaying wood, opens under the +very eaves of a cottage, and the path goes by the door--across a narrow +meadow where deep and broad trenches, green now, show where ancient +stews or fishponds existed, and then through a farmyard into a lane. +Tall poplars rise on either hand, but there seem to be no houses; they +stand, in fact, a field's breadth back from the lane, and are approached +by footpaths that every few yards necessitate a stile in the hedge. + +When a low thatched farmhouse does abut upon the way, the blank white +wall of the rear part faces the road, and the front door opens on +precisely the other side. Hard by is a row of beehives. Though the +modern hives are at once more economical and humane, they have not the +old associations that cling about the straw domes topped with broken +earthenware to shoot off the heavy downfall of a thunderstorm. + +Everywhere the apple-bloom; the hum of bees; children sitting on the +green beside the road, their laps full of flowers; the song of finches; +and the low murmur of water that glides over flint and stone so shadowed +by plants and grasses that the sunbeams cannot reach and glisten on it. +Thus the straggling flower-strewn village stretches along beneath the +hill and rises up the slope, and the swallows wheel and twitter over the +gables where are their hereditary nesting-places. The lane ends on a +broad dusty road, and, opposite, a quiet thatched house of the larger +sort stands, endways to the street, with an open pitching before the +windows. There, too, the swallows' nests are crowded under the eaves, +flowers are trained against the wall, and in the garden stand the same +beautiful apple-trees. But within, the lower part of the windows--that +have recess seats--are guarded by horizontal rods of iron, polished by +the backs of many men. It is an inn, and the rods are to save the panes +from the impact of an excited toper's arm. + +The talk to-day, as the brown brandy, which the paler cognac has not yet +superseded, is consumed, and the fumes of coarse tobacco and the smell +of spilt beer and the faint sickly odour of evaporating spirits +overpower the flowers, is of horses. The stable lads from the training +stables far up on the Downs drop in or call at the door without +dismounting. Once or twice in the day a tout calls and takes his 'grub,' +and scribbles a report in the little back parlour. Sporting papers, +beer-stained and thumb-marked, lie on the tables; framed portraits of +racers hang on the walls. Burly men, who certainly cannot ride a race, +but who have horse in every feature, puff cigars and chat in jerky +monosyllables that to an outsider are perfectly incomprehensible. But +the glib way in which heavy sums of money are spoken of conveys the +impression that they dabble in enormous wealth. + +There are dogs under the tables and chairs; dogs in the window-seat; +dogs panting on the stone flags of the passage, after a sharp trot +behind a trap, choosing the coolest spot to loll their red tongues out; +dogs outside in the road; dogs standing on hind legs, and painfully +lapping the water in the horse-trough; and there is a yapping of puppies +in the distance. The cushions of the sofa are strewn with dogs' hairs, +and once now and then a dog leisurely hops up the staircase. + +Customers are served by the landlady, a decent body enough in her way: +her son, the man of the house, is up in the 'orchut' at the rear, +feeding his dogs. Where the 'orchut' ends in a paddock stands a small +shed: in places the thatch on the roof has fallen through in the course +of years and revealed the bare rafters. The bottom part of the door has +decayed, and the long nose of a greyhound is thrust out sniffing through +a hole. Dickon, the said son, is delighted to undo the padlock for a +visitor who is 'square.' In an instant the long hounds leap up, half a +dozen at a time, and I stagger backwards, forced by the sheer vigour of +their caresses against the doorpost. Dickon cannot quell the uproarious +pack: he kicks the door open, and away they scamper round and round the +paddock at headlong speed. + +What a joy it is to them to stretch their limbs! I forget the squalor of +the kennel in watching their happy gambols. I cannot drink more than one +tumbler of brown brandy and water; but Dickon overlooks that weakness, +feeling that I admire his greyhounds. It is arranged that I am to see +them work in the autumn. + +The months pass, and in his trap with the famous trotter in the shafts +we roll up the village street. Apple-bloom and golden fruit too are +gone, and the houses show more now among the bare trees; but as the rim +of the ruddy November sun comes forth from the edge of a cloud there +appears a buff tint everywhere in the background. When elm and ash are +bare the oaks retain their leaves, and these are illumined by the autumn +beams. Over-topped by tall elms and hidden by the orchards, the oaks +were hardly seen in summer; now they are found to be numerous and give +the prevailing hue to the place. + +Dickon taps the dashboard as the mare at last tops the hill, and away +she speeds along the level plateau for the Downs. Two greyhounds are +with us; two more have gone on under charge of a boy. Skirting the hills +a mile or two, we presently leave the road and drive over the turf: +there is no track, but Dickon knows his way. The rendezvous is a small +fir plantation, the young trees in which are but shoulder-high. Below is +a plain entirely surrounded by the hills, and partly green with root +crops: more than one flock of sheep is down there, and two teams +ploughing the stubble. Neither the ploughmen nor the shepherds take the +least heed of us, except to watch for the sport. The spare couple are +fastened in the trap; the boy jumps up and takes the reins. Dickon puts +the slip on the couple that are to run first, and we begin to range. + +Just at the foot of the hill the grass is tall and grey; there, too, are +the dead dry stalks of many plants that cultivation has driven from the +ploughed fields and that find a refuge at the edge. A hare starts from +the very verge and makes up the Downs. Dickon slips the hounds, and a +faint halloo comes from the shepherds and the ploughmen. It is a +beautiful sight to see the hounds bound over the sward; the sinewy back +bends like a bow, but a bow that, instead of an arrow, shoots itself; +the deep chests drink the air. Is there any moment so joyful in life as +the second when the chase begins? As we gaze, before we even step +forward, the hare is over the ridge and out of sight. Then we race and +tear up the slope; then the boy in the trap flaps the reins and away +goes the mare out of sight too. + +Dickon is long and rawboned, a powerful fellow, strong of limb, and +twice my build; but he sips too often at the brown brandy, and after the +first burst I can head him. But he knows the hills and the route the +hare will take, so that I have but to keep pace. In five minutes as we +cross a ridge we see the game again; the hare is circling back--she +passes under us not fifty yards away, as we stand panting on the hill. +The youngest hound gains, and runs right over her; she doubles, the +older hound picks up the running. By a furze-bush she doubles again; but +the young one turns her--the next moment she is in the jaws of the old +dog. + +Again and again the hounds are slipped, now one couple, now the other: +we pant, and can scarcely speak with running, but the wild excitement of +the hour and the sweet pure air of the Downs supply fresh strength. The +little lad brings the mare anywhere: through the furze, among the +flint-pits, jolting over the ruts, she rattles along with sure alacrity. +There are five hares in the sack under the straw when at last we get up +and slowly drive down to the highway, reaching it some two miles from +where we left it. Dickon sends the dogs home by the boy on foot; we +drive round and return to the village by a different route, entering it +from the opposite direction. + +The reason of these things is that Sarsen has no great landlord. There +are fifty small proprietors, and not a single resident magistrate. +Besides the small farmers, there are scores of cottage owners, every one +of whom is perfectly independent. Nobody cares for anybody. It is a +republic, without even the semblance of a Government. It is liberty, +equality, and swearing. As it is just within the limit of a borough, +almost all the cottagers have votes, and are not to be trifled with. The +proximity of horse-racing establishments adds to the general atmosphere +of dissipation. Betting, card-playing, ferret-breeding and dog-fancying, +poaching and politics, are the occupations of the populace. A little +illicit badger-baiting is varied by a little vicar-baiting; the mass of +the inhabitants are the reddest of Reds. Que voulez-vous? + +The edges of some large estates come up near, but the owners would +hardly like to institute a persecution of these turbulent folk. If they +did, where would be their influence at the next election? If a landlord +makes himself unpopular, his own personal value depreciates. He is a +nonentity in the committee-room, and his help rather deprecated by the +party than desired. The Sarsen fellows are not such fools as to break +pheasant preserves in the vale; as they are resident, that would not +answer. They keep outside the _sanctum sanctorum_ of the pheasant +coverts. But with ferret, dog, and gun, and now and then a partridge net +along the edge of the standing barley, they excel. So, too, with the +wire; and the broad open Downs are their happy hunting grounds, +especially in misty weather. + +This is the village of the apple-bloom, the loveliest spot imaginable. +After all, they are not such desperately bad fellows if you deduct their +sins against the game laws. They are a jovial lot, and free with their +money; they stand by one another--a great virtue in these cold-blooded +days. If one gets in trouble with the law the rest subscribe the fine. +They are full of knowledge of a certain sort, and you may learn +anything, from the best way to hang a dog upwards. + +When we reach the inn, and Dickon calls for the brown brandy, there in +the bar sits a gamekeeper, whose rubicund countenance beams with good +humour. He is never called upon to pay his score. Good fellow! in +addition he is popular, and every one asks him to drink: besides which, +a tip for a race now and then makes this world wear a smiling aspect to +him. + +Dickon's 'unconscious education'--absorbed rather than learnt in +boyhood--had not been acquired under conditions likely to lead him to +admire scenery. But, rough as he was, he was a good-natured fellow, and +it was through him that I became acquainted with a very beautiful place. + +The footpath to The Park went for about half a mile under the shadow of +elm trees, and in spring time there was a continual noise of young rooks +in the nests above. Occasionally dead twigs, either dislodged from the +nests or broken off by the motions of the old birds, came rustling down. +One or two nests that had been blown out strewed the sward with half a +bushel of dead sticks. After the rookery the path passed a lonely dairy, +where the polished brazen vessels in the skilling glittered like gold in +the sunshine. Farther on came wide open meadows with numerous oak-trees +scattered in the midst--the outposts of the great wood at hand. The elms +were flourishing and vigorous; but these detached oaks were decaying, +and some dead, their hoar antiquity contrasting with the green grass and +flowers of the mead. + +The mansion was hidden by elm and chestnut, pines and sombre cedars. +From the edge of the lawn the steep slope of the Down rose, planted with +all manner of shrubs, the walks through which were inches deep in dead +leaves, needles, and fir-cones. Long neglect had permitted these to +accumulate, and the yew hedges had almost grown together and covered the +walk they bordered. + +The woods and preserves extended along the Downs, between the hills and +the meadows beneath. There was one path through these woods that led +into a narrow steep-sided coombe, one side of which was planted with +firs. On the other was a little grass, but so thin as scarcely to cover +the chalk. This side jutted out from the general line of the hills, and +formed a bold bluff, whose white precipitous cliff was a landmark for +many miles. In climbing the coombe, it was sometimes necessary to grasp +the bunches of grass; for it would have been impossible to recover from +a slip till, bruised and shaken, you rolled to the bottom, and perhaps +into the little streamlet flowing through the hollow. + +The summit was of small extent, but the view beautiful. A low fence of +withy had long since decayed, nothing but a few rotten stakes remaining +at the very verge of the precipice. Steep as it was, there were some +ledges that the rabbits frequented, making their homes in mid-air. +Further along, the slope, a little less perpendicular, was covered with +nut-tree bushes, where you could scramble down by holding to the boughs. +There was a tradition of a fox-hunter, in the excitement of the chase, +forcing his horse to descend through these bushes and actually reaching +the level meadows below in safety. + +Impossible as it seemed, yet when the hounds were in full cry beneath it +was easy to understand that in the eagerness of the moment a horseman at +the top might feel tempted to join the stirring scene at any risk: for +the fox frequently ran just below, making along the line of coverts; and +from that narrow perch on the cliff the whole field came into sight at +once. There was Reynard slipping ahead, and two or more fields behind +the foremost of the pack, while the rest, rushing after, made the hills +resound with their chiding. The leaders taking the hedges, the main +squadron splashing through a marshy place, the outsiders straining to +come up, and the last man behind, who rode harder than any--all could be +seen at the same time. + +It was a lovely spot, too, for dreaming on a summer's day, reclining on +the turf, with the harebells swinging in the faint breeze. The extreme +solitude was its charm: no lanes or tracks other than those purely +pastoral came near. There were woods on either hand; in the fir +plantations the jays chattered unceasingly. The broad landscape +stretched out to the illimitable distance, till the power of the eye +failed and could trace it no farther. But if the gaze was lifted it +looked into blue space--the azure heaven not only overhead, but, as it +seemed, all around. + +Dickon was always to and fro the mansion here, and took me with him. His +object was ostensibly business: now it was a horse to buy, now a fat +bullock or sheep; now it was an acre or two of wood that was to be cut. +The people of the mansion were so much from home that their existence +was almost forgotten, and they were spoken of vaguely as 'on the +Continent.' There was, in fact, a lack of ready-money, perhaps from the +accumulation of settlements, that reduced the nominal income of the head +to a tithe of what it should have been. + +Yet they were too proud to have in the modern builder, the modern +upholsterer, and, most dreadful of all, the modern 'gardener,' to put in +French sashes, gilding and mirrors, and to root up the fine old yew +hedges and level the grand old trees. Such is the usual preparation +before an advertisement appears that a mansion of 'historic +association,' and 'replete with every modern convenience,' is to let, +with some thousand of acres of shooting, &c. + +They still kept up an establishment of servants--after a fashion--who +did much as they pleased. Dickon was a great favourite. As for myself, a +mere dreamy lad, I could go into the woods and wander as I liked, which +was sufficient. But I recollect the immense kitchen very well, and the +polished relics of the ancient turnspit machinery. There was a door from +it opening on a square stone-flagged court with a vertical sun-dial on +the wall; and beyond that ranges of disused coach-houses--all cloudy, as +it were, with cobwebs hanging on old-fashioned post-chaises. Dickon was +in love with one of the maids, a remarkably handsome girl. + +She showed me the famous mantelpiece, a vast carved work, under which +you could stand upright. The legend was that once a year on a certain +night a sable horse and cloaked horseman rode across that great +apartment, flames snorting from the horse's nostrils, and into the +fireplace, disappearing with a clap of thunder. She brought me, too, an +owl from the coach-houses, holding the bird by the legs firmly, her hand +defended by her apron from the claws. + +The butler was a little merry fellow, extremely fond of a gun, and +expert in using it. He seemed to have nothing to do but tell tales and +sing, except at the rare intervals when some of the family returned +unexpectedly. The keeper was always up there in the kitchen; he was as +pleasant and jovial as a man could well be, though full of oaths on +occasion. He was a man of one tale--of a somewhat enigmatical character. +He would ask a stranger if they had ever heard of such-and-such a +village where water set fire to a barn, ducks were drowned, and pigs cut +their own throats, all in a single day. + +It seemed that some lime had been stored in the barn, when the brook +rose and flooded the place; this slaked the lime and fired the straw, +and so the barn. Something of the same kind happens occasionally on the +river barges. The ducks were in a coop fastened down, so that they could +not swim on the surface of the flood, which passed over and drowned +them. The pigs were floated out of the sty, and in swimming their +sharp-edged hoofs struck their fat jowls just behind the ear at every +stroke till they cut into the artery, and so bled to death. Where he got +this history from I do not know. + +One bright October morning (towards the end of the month) Dickon drove +me over to the old place with his fast trotter--our double-barrels +hidden under some sacks in the trap. The keeper was already waiting in +the kitchen, sipping a glass of hot purl; the butler was filling every +pocket with cartridges. After some comparison of their betting-books, +for Dickon, on account of his acquaintance with the training +establishments, was up to most moves, we started. The keeper had to send +a certain number of pheasants and other game to the absent family and +their friends every now and then, and this duty was his pretext. There +was plenty of shooting to be got elsewhere, but the spice of naughtiness +about this was alluring. To reach that part of the wood where it was +proposed to shoot the shortest way led across some arable fields. + +Fieldfares and redwings rose out of the hedges and flew away in their +peculiarly scattered manner--their flocks, though proceeding in the same +direction, seeming all loose and disordered. Where the ploughs had been +at work already the deep furrows were full of elm leaves, wafted as they +fell from the trees in such quantities as to make the groove left by the +share level with the ridges. A flock of lapwings were on the clods in an +adjacent field, near enough to be seen, but far beyond gunshot. There +might perhaps have been fifty birds, all facing one way and all +perfectly motionless. They were, in fact, watching us intently, although +not apparently looking towards us: they act so much in concert as to +seem drilled. So soon as the possibility of danger had gone by each +would begin to feed, moving ahead. + +The path then passed through the little meadows that joined the wood: +and the sunlight glistened on the dew, or rather on the hoar frost that +had melted and clung in heavy drops to the grass. Here one flashed +emerald; there ruby; another a pure brilliance like a diamond. Under +foot by the stiles the fallen acorns crunched as they split into halves +beneath the sudden pressure. + +The leaves still left on the sycamores were marked with large black +spots: the horse-chestnuts were quite bare; and already the tips of the +branches carried the varnish-coloured sheaths of the buds that were to +appear the following spring. These stuck to the finger if touched, as if +they really had been varnished. Through the long months of winter they +would remain, till under April showers and sunshine the sheath fell back +and the green leaflets pushed up, the two forming together a rude cross +for a short time. + +The day was perfectly still, and the colours of the leaves still left +glowed in the sunbeams. Beneath, the dank bronzed fern that must soon +shrivel was wet, and hung with spiders' webs that like a slender netting +upheld the dew. The keeper swore a good deal about a certain gentleman +farmer whose lands adjoined the estate, but who held under a different +proprietor. Between these two there was a constant bickering--the tenant +angry about the damage done to his crops by the hares and rabbits, and +the keeper bitterly resenting the tenant's watch on his movements, and +warnings to his employer that all was not quite as it should be. + +The tenant had the right to shoot, and he was always about in the +turnips--a terrible thorn in the side of Dickon's friend. The tenant +roundly declared the keeper a rascal, and told his master so in written +communications. The keeper declared the tenant set gins by the wood, in +which the pheasants stepped and had their legs smashed. Then the tenant +charged the keeper with trespassing; the other retorted that he decoyed +the pheasants by leaving peas till they dropped out of the pods. In +short, their hatred was always showing itself in some act of guerrilla +warfare. As we approached the part of the woods fixed on, two of the +keeper's assistants, carrying thick sticks, stepped from behind a hedge, +and reported that they had kept a good watch, and the old fox (the +tenant) had not been seen that morning. So these fellows went round to +beat, and the guns were got ready. + +Sometimes you could hear the pheasants running before they reached the +low-cropped hawthorn hedge at the side of the plantation; sometimes they +came so quietly as to appear suddenly out from the ditch, having crept +through. Others came with a tremendous rush through the painted leaves, +rising just before the hedge; and now and then one flew screaming high +over the tops of the firs and ash-poles, his glossy neck glowing in the +sunlight and his long tail floating behind. These last pleased me most, +for when the shot struck the great bird going at that rate even death +could not at once arrest his progress. The impetus carried him yards, +gradually slanting downwards till he rolled in the green rush bunches. + +Then a hare slipped out and ran the gauntlet, and filled the hollow with +his cries when the shot broke his hindquarters, till the dog had him. +Jays came in couples, and green woodpeckers singly: the magpies +cunningly flew aside instead of straight ahead; they never could do +anything straightforward. A stoat peeped out, but went back directly +when a rabbit whose retreat had been cut off bolted over his most +insidious enemy. Every now and then Dickon's shot when he fired high cut +the twigs out of the ash by me. Then came the distant noise of the +beaters' sticks, and the pheasants, at last thoroughly disturbed, flew +out in twos and threes at a time. Now the firing grew fierce, and the +roll of the volleys ceaseless. It was impossible to jam the cartridges +fast enough in the breech. + +A subtle flavour of sulphur filled the mouth, and the lips became dry. +Sunshine and gleaming leaves and sky and grass seemed to all disappear +in the fever of the moment. The gun burned the hands, all blackened by +the powder; the metal got hotter and hotter; the sward was poached and +trampled and dotted with cases; shot hissed through the air and pattered +in showers on the opposite plantation; the eyes, bleared and bloodshot +with the smoke, could scarce see to point the tube. Pheasants fell, and +no one heeded; pheasants escaped, and none noticed it; pheasants were +but just winged and ran wounded into the distant hedges; pheasants were +blown out of all living shape and could hardly be gathered up. Not a +word spoken: a breathless haste to load and blaze; a storm of shot and +smoke and slaughter. + + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + + +OBY AND HIS SYSTEM: THE MOUCHER'S CALENDAR + + +One dark night, as I was walking on a lonely road, I kicked against +something, and but just saved myself from a fall. It was an intoxicated +man lying at full length. As a rule, it is best to let such people +alone; but it occurred to me that the mail-cart was due; with two horses +harnessed tandem-fashion, and travelling at full speed, the mail would +probably go over him. So I seized the fellow by the collar and dragged +him out of the way. Then he sat up, and asked in a very threatening tone +who I was. I mentioned my name: he grunted, and fell back on the turf, +where I left him. + +The incident passed out of my mind, when one afternoon a labourer +called, asking for me in a mysterious manner, and refusing to +communicate his business to any one else. When admitted, he produced a +couple of cock pheasants from under his coat, the tail feathers much +crumpled, but otherwise in fine condition. These he placed on the table, +remarking, 'I ain't forgot as you drawed I out of the raud thuck night.' +I made him understand that such presents were too embarrassing; but he +seemed anxious to do 'summat,' so I asked him to find me a few ferns and +rare plants. + +This he did from time to time; and thus a species of acquaintanceship +grew up, and I learned all about him. He was always called 'Oby' (_i.e._ +Obadiah), and was the most determined poacher of a neighbouring +district--a notorious fighting man--hardened against shame, an +Ishmaelite openly contemning authority and yet not insensible to +kindness. I give his history in his own language--softening only the +pronunciation, that would otherwise be unintelligible. + +'I lives with my granny in Thorney-lane: it be outside the village. My +mother be married agen, you see, to the smith: her have got a cottage as +belongs to her. My brother have got a van and travels the country; and +sometimes I and my wife goes with him. I larned to set up a wire when I +went to plough when I were a boy, but never took to it regular till I +went a-navigating [navvying] and seed what a spree it were. + +'There ain't no such chaps for poaching as they navigators in all +England: I means where there be a railway a-making. I've knowed forty of +'em go out together on a Sunday, and every man had a dog, and some two; +and good dogs too--lots of 'em as you wouldn't buy for ten quid. They +used to spread out like, and sweep the fields as clean as the crownd of +your hat. Keepers weren't no good at all, and besides they never knowed +which place us was going to make for. One of the chaps gave I a puppy, +and he growed into the finest greyhound as you'd find in a day's walk. +The first time I was took up before the bench I had to go to gaol, +because the contractor had broke and the works was stopped, so that my +mates hadn't no money to pay the fine. + +'The dog was took away home to granny by my butty [comrade], but one of +the gentlemen as seed it in the court sent his groom over and got it off +the old woman for five pound. She thought if I hadn't the hound I should +give it up, and she come and paid me out of gaol. It was a wonder as I +didn't break her neck; only her was a good woman, you see, to I. But I +wouldn't have parted with that hound for a quart-full of sovereigns. +Many's a time I've seed his name--they changed his name, of course--in +the papers for winning coursing matches. But we let that gent as bought +him have it warm; we harried his pheasants and killed the most of 'em. + +'After that I came home, and took to it regular. It ain't no use unless +you do it regular. If a man goes out into the fields now and then +chance-like he don't get much, and is most sure to be caught--very +likely in the place of somebody else the keepers were waiting for and as +didn't come. I goes to work every day the same as the rest, only I +always take piece-work, which I can come to when I fancy, and stay as +late in the evening as suits me with a good excuse. As I knows +navigating, I do a main bit of draining and water-furrowing, and I gets +good wages all the year round, and never wants for a job. You see, I +knows more than the fellows as have never been at nothing but plough. + +'The reason I gets on so well poaching is because I'm always at work out +in the fields, except when I goes with the van. I watches everything as +goes on, and marks the hare's tracks and the rabbit buries, and the +double mounds and little copses as the pheasants wanders off to in the +autumn. I keeps a 'nation good look-out after the keeper and his men, +and sees their dodges--which way they walks, and how they comes back +sudden and unexpected on purpose. There's mostly one about with his eyes +on me--when they sees me working on a farm they puts a man special to +look after me. I never does nothing close round where I'm at work, so he +waits about a main bit for nothing. + +'You see by going out piece-work I visits every farm in the parish. The +other men they works for one farmer for two or three or maybe twenty +years; but I goes very nigh all round the place--a fortnight here and a +week there, and then a month somewhere else. So I knows every hare in +the parish, and all his runs and all the double mounds and copses, and +the little covers in the corners of the fields. When I be at work on one +place I sets my wires about half a mile away on a farm as I ain't been +working on for a month, and where the keeper don't keep no special +look-out now I be gone. As I goes all round, I knows the ways of all the +farmers, and them as bides out late at night at their friends', and they +as goes to bed early; and so I knows what paths to follow and what +fields I can walk about in and never meet nobody. + +'The dodge is always to be in the fields and to know everybody's ways. +Then you may do just as you be a-mind. All of 'em knows I be a-poaching; +but that don't make no difference for work; I can use my tools, and do +it as well as any man in the country, and they be glad to get me on for +'em. They farmers as have got their shooting be sharper than the +keepers, and you can't do much there; but they as haven't got the +shooting don't take no notice. They sees my wires in the grass, and just +looks the other way. If they sees I with a gun I puts un in ditch till +they be gone by, and they don't look among the nettles. + +'Some of them as got land by the wood would like I to be there all day +and night. You see, their clover and corn feeds the hares and pheasants; +and then some day when they goes into the market and passes the +poultry-shop there be four or five score pheasants a-hanging up with +their long tails a-sweeping in the faces of them as fed 'em. The same +with the hares and the rabbits; and so they'd just as soon as I had +'em--and a dalled deal sooner--out of spite. Lord bless you! if I was to +walk through their courtyards at night with a sack over my shoulders +full of you knows what, and met one of 'em, he'd tell his dog to stop +that yowling, and go in doors rather than see me. As for the rabbits, +they hates they worse than poison. They knocks a hare over now and then +themselves on the quiet--bless you! I could tell tales on a main few, +but I bean't such a fellow as that. + +'But, you see I don't run no risk except from the keeper hisself, the +men as helps un, and two or three lickspittles as be always messing +round after a ferreting job or some wood-cutting, and the Christmas +charities. It be enough to make a man sick to see they. This yer parish +be a very big un, and a be preserved very high, and I can do three times +as much in he as in the next un, as ain't much preserved. So I sticks to +this un. + +'Of course they tried to drive I out of un, and wanted the cottage; but +granny had all the receipts for the quit-rent, and my lard and all the +lawyers couldn't shove us out, and there we means to bide. You have seed +that row of oaks as grows in the hedge behind our house. One of 'em +leaned over the roof, and one of the limbs was like to fall; but they +wouldn't cut him, just to spite us, and the rain dripping spoilt the +thatch. So I just had another chimney built at that end for an oven, and +kept up the smoke till all the tree that side died. I've had more than +one pheasant through them oaks, as draws 'em: I had one in a gin as I +put in the ditch by my garden. + +'They started a tale as 'twas I as stole the lambs a year or two ago, +and they had me up for it; but they couldn't prove nothing agen me. Then +they had me for unhinging the gates and drowning 'em in the water, but +when they was going to try the case they two young farmers as you know +of come and said as they did it when they was tight, and so I got off. +They said as 'twas I that put the poison for the hounds when three on +'em took it and died while the hunt was on. It were the dalledest lie! I +wouldn't hurt a dog not for nothing. The keeper hisself put that poison, +I knows, 'cause he couldn't bear the pack coming to upset the pheasants. +Yes, they been down upon I a main bit, but I means to bide. All the +farmers knows as I never touched no lamb, nor even pulled a turmot, and +they never couldn't get no witnesses. + +'After a bit I catched the keeper hisself and the policeman at it; and +there be another as knows it, and who do you think that be? It be the +man in town as got the licence to sell game as haves most of my hares; +the keeper selled he a lot as the money never got to my lard's pocket +and the steward never knowed of. Look at that now! So now he shuts his +eye and axes me to drink, and give me the ferreting job in Longlands +Mound; but, Lord bless 'ee, I bean't so soft as he thinks for. + +'They used to try and get me to fight the keeper when they did catch me +with a wire, but I knowed as hitting is transporting, and just put my +hands in my pockets and let 'em do as they liked. _They_ knows I bean't +afraid of 'em in the road; I've threshed more than one of 'em, but I +ain't going to jump into _that_ trap. I've been before the bench, at one +place and t'other, heaps of times, and paid the fine for trespass. Last +time the chairman said to I, "So you be here again, Oby; we hear a good +deal about you." I says, "Yes, my lard, I be here agen, but people never +don't hear nothing about _you_." That shut the old duffer up. Nobody +never heard nothing of he, except at rent-audit. + +'However, they all knows me now--my lard and the steward, and the keeper +and the bailies, and the farmers; and they don't take half the notice of +I as they used to. The keeper he don't dare, nor the policeman as I +telled you, and the rest be got used to me and my ways. And I does very +well one week with t'other. One week I don't take nothing, and the next +I haves a good haul, chiefly hares and rabbits; 'cause of course I never +goes into the wood, nor the plantations. It wants eight or ten with +crape masks on for that job. + +'I sets up about four wires, sometimes only two; if you haves so many it +is a job to look after 'em. I stops the hare's other runs, so that she +is sure to come along mine where I've got the turnpike up: the trick is +to rub your hand along the runs as you want to stop, or spit on 'em, or +summat like that; for a hare won't pass nothing of that sort. So pussy +goes back and comes by the run as I've chose: if she comes quick she +don't holler; if she comes slow she squeals a bit sometimes before the +wire hangs her. Very often I bean't fur off and stops the squealing. +That's why I can't use a gin--it makes 'em holler so. I ferrets a +goodish few rabbits on bright nights in winter. + +'As for the pheasants, I gets them mostly about acorn-time; they comes +out of the plantations then. I keeps clear of the plantations, because, +besides the men a-watching, they have got dogs chained up, and +alarm-guns as goes off if you steps on the spring; and some have got a +string stretched along as you be pretty sure to kick against, and then, +bang! and all the dogs sets up a yowling. Of course it's only powder, +but it brings the keepers along. But when the acorns and the berries be +ripe, the pheasants comes out along the hedges after 'em, and gets up at +the haws and such like. They wanders for miles, and as they don't care +to go all the way back to roost they bides in the little copses as I +told you of. They come to the same copses every year, which is curious, +as most of them as will come this year will be shot before next. + +'If I can't get 'em the fust night, I just throws a handful or two of +peas about the place, and they'll be sure to stay, and likely enough +bring two or three more. I mostly shoots 'em with just a little puff of +powder as you wouldn't hear across one field, especially if it's a windy +night. I had a air-gun, as was took from me, but he weren't much go: I +likes a gun as throws the shot wide, but I never shoots any but +roosters, unless I catch 'em standing still. + +'All as I can tell you is as the dodge is this: you watch everybody, and +be always in the fields, and always work one parish till you knows every +hare in un, and always work by yourself and don't have no mates.' + +There were several other curious characters whom we frequently saw at +work. The mouchers were about all the year round, and seemed to live in, +or by the hedges, as much as the mice. These men probably see more than +the most careful observer, without giving it a thought. + +In January the ice that freezes in the ditches appears of a dark colour, +because it lies without intervening water on the dead brown leaves. +Their tint shows through the translucent crystal, but near the edge of +the ice three white lines or bands run round. If by any chance the ice +gets broken or upturned, these white bands are seen to be caused by +flanges projecting from the under surface, almost like stands. They are +sometimes connected in such a way that the parallel flanges appear like +the letter 'h' with the two down-strokes much prolonged. In the morning +the chalky rubble brought from the pits upon the Downs and used for +mending gateways leading into the fields glistens brightly. Upon the +surface of each piece of rubble there adheres a thin coating of ice: if +this be lightly struck it falls off, and with it a flake of the chalk. +As it melts, too, the chalk splits and crumbles; and thus in an ordinary +gateway the same process may be seen that disintegrates the most +majestic cliff. + +The stubbles--those that still remain--are full of linnets, upon which +the mouching fowler preys in the late autumn. And when at the end of +January the occasional sunbeams give some faint hope of spring, he +wanders through the lanes carrying a decoy bird in a darkened cage, and +a few boughs of privet studded with black berries and bound round with +rushes for the convenience of handling. + +The female yellow-hammers, whose hues are not so brilliant as those of +the male birds, seem as winter approaches to flock together, and roam +the hedges and stubble fields in bevies. Where loads of corn have passed +through gates the bushes often catch some straws, and the tops of the +gateposts, being decayed and ragged, hold others. These are neglected +while the seeds among the stubble, the charlock, and the autumn +dandelion are plentiful and while the ears left by the gleaners may +still be found. But in the shadowless winter days, hard and cold, each +scattered straw is sought for. + +A few days before the new year [1879] opened I saw a yellow-hammer +attacking, in a very ingenious manner, a straw that hung pendent, the +ear downwards, from the post of a windy gateway. She fluttered up from +the ground, clung to the ear, and outspread her wings, keeping them +rigid. The draught acted on the wings, just as the breeze does on a +paper kite, and there the bird remained supported without an effort +while the ear was picked. Now and then the balance was lost, but she was +soon up again, and again used the wind to maintain her position. The +brilliant cockbirds return in the early spring, or at least appear to do +so, for the habits of birds are sometimes quite local. + +It is probable that in severe and continued frost many hedgehogs die. On +January 19 [1879], in the midst of the sharp weather, a hedgehog came to +the door opening on the garden at night, and was taken in. Though +carefully tended, the poor creature died next day: it was so weak it +could scarcely roll itself into a ball. As the vital heat declined the +fleas deserted their host and issued from among the spines. In February, +unless it be a mild season, the mounds are still bare; and then under +the bushes the ground may be sometimes seen strewn with bulbous roots, +apparently of the blue-bell, lying thickly together and entirely +exposed. + +The moucher now carries a bill-hook, and as he shambles along the road +keeps a sharp look-out for briars. When he sees one the roots of which +are not difficult to get at, and whose tall upright stem is green--if +dark it is too old--he hacks it off with as much of the root as +possible. The lesser branches are cut, and the stem generally trimmed; +it is then sold to the gardeners as the stock on which to graft standard +roses. In a few hours as he travels he will get together quite a bundle +of such briars. He also collects moss, which is sold for the purpose of +placing in flowerpots to hide the earth. The moss preferred is that +growing on and round stoles. + +The melting of the snow and the rains in February cause the ditches to +overflow and form shallow pools in the level meadows. Into these +sometimes the rooks wade as far as the length of their legs allows them, +till the discoloured yellow water almost touches the lower part of the +breast. The moucher searches for small shell snails, of which quantities +are sold as food for cage birds, and cuts small 'turfs' a few inches +square from the green by the roadside. These are in great request for +larks, especially at this time of the year, when they begin to sing with +all their might. + +Large flocks of woodpigeons are now in every field where the tender +swede and turnip tops are sprouting green and succulent. These 'tops' +are the moucher's first great crop of the year. The time that they +appear varies with the weather: in a mild winter some may be found early +in January; if the frost has been severe there may be none till March. +These the moucher gathers by stealth; he speedily fills a sack, and goes +off with it to the nearest town. Turnip tops are much more in demand now +than formerly, and the stealing of them a more serious matter. This +trade lasts some time, till the tops become too large and garden greens +take their place. + +In going to and fro the fields the moucher searches the banks and digs +out primrose 'mars,' and ferns with the root attached, which he hawks +from door to door in the town. He also gathers quantities of spring +flowers, as violets. This spring [1879], owing to the severity of the +season, there were practically none to gather, and when the weather +moderated the garden flowers preceded those of the hedge. Till the 10th +of March not a spot of colour was to be seen. About that time bright +yellow flowers appeared suddenly on the clayey banks and waste places, +and among the hard clay lumps of fields ploughed but not sown. + +The brilliant yellow formed a striking contrast to the dull brown of the +clods, there being no green leaf to moderate the extremes of tint. These +were the blossoms of the coltsfoot, that sends up a stalk surrounded +with faintly rosy scales. Several such stalks often spring from a single +clod: lift the heavy clod, and you have half a dozen flowers, a whole +bunch, without a single leaf. Usually the young grasses and the +seed-leaves of plants have risen up and supply a general green; but this +year the coltsfoot bloomed unsupported, studding the dark ground with +gold. + +Now the frogs are busy, and the land lizards come forth. Even these the +moucher sometimes captures; for there is nothing so strange but that +some one selects it for a pet. The mad March hares scamper about in +broad daylight over the corn, whose pale green blades rise in straight +lines a few inches above the soil. They are chasing their skittish +loves, instead of soberly dreaming the day away in a bunch of grass. The +ploughman walks in the furrow his share has made, and presently stops to +measure the 'lands' with the spud. His horses halt dead in the tenth of +a second at the sound of his voice, glad to rest for a minute from their +toil. Work there is in plenty now, for stone-picking, hoeing, and other +matters must be attended to; but the moucher lounges in the road +decoying chaffinches, or perhaps earns a shilling by driving some +dealer's cattle home from fair and market. + +By April his second great crop is ready--the watercress; the precise +time of course varies very much, and at first the quantities are small. +The hedges are now fast putting on the robe of green that gradually +hides the wreck of last year's growth. The withered head of the teazle, +black from the rain, falls and disappears. Great burdock stems lie +prostrate. Thick and hard as they are while the sap is still in them, in +winter the wet ground rots the lower part till the blast overthrows the +stalk. The hollow 'gicks' too, that lately stood almost to the shoulder, +is down, or slanting, temporarily supported by some branch. Just +between the root and the stalk it has decayed till nothing but a narrow +strip connects the dry upper part with the earth. The moucher sells the +nests and eggs of small birds to townsfolk who cannot themselves wander +among the fields, but who love to see something that reminds them of the +green meadows. + +As the season advances and the summer comes he gathers vast quantities +of dandelion leaves, parsley, sowthistle, clover, and so forth, as food +for the tame rabbits kept in towns. If his haunt be not far from a +river, he spends hours collecting bait--worm and grub and fly--for the +boatmen, who sell them again to the anglers. + +Again there is work in the meadows--the haymaking is about, and the +farmers are anxious for men. But the moucher passes by and looks for +quaking grass, bunches of which have a ready sale. Fledgeling +goldfinches and linnets, young rabbits, young squirrels, even the nest +of the harvest-trow mouse, and occasionally a snake, bring him in a +little money. He picks the forget-me-nots from the streams and the +'blue-bottle' from the corn: bunches of the latter are sometimes sold in +London at a price that seems extravagant to those who have seen whole +fields tinted with its beautiful azure. By-and-by the golden wheat calls +for an army of workers; but the moucher passes on and gathers groundsel. + +Then come the mushrooms: he knows the best places, and soon fills a +basket full of 'buttons' picking them very early in the morning. These +are then put in 'punnets' by the greengrocers and retailed at a high +price. Later the blackberries ripen and form his third great crop; the +quantity he brings in to the town is astonishing, and still there is +always a customer. The blackberry harvest lasts for several weeks, as +the berries do not all ripen at once, but successively, and is +supplemented by elderberries and sloes. The moucher sometimes sleeps on +the heaps of disused tan in a tanyard; tanyards are generally on the +banks of small rivers. The tan is said to possess the property of +preserving those who sleep on it from chills and cold, though they may +lie quite exposed to the weather. + +There is generally at least one such a man as this about the outskirts +of market towns, and he is an 'original' best defined by negatives. He +is not a tramp, for he never enters the casual wards and never +begs--that is, of strangers; though there are certain farmhouses where +he calls once now and then and gets a slice of bread and cheese and a +pint of ale. He brings to the farmhouse a duck's egg that has been +dropped in the brook by some negligent bird, or carries intelligence of +the nest made by some roaming goose in a distant withy-bed. Or once, +perhaps, he found a sheep on its back in a narrow furrow, unable to get +up and likely to die if not assisted, and by helping the animal to gain +its legs earned a title to the owner's gratitude. + +He is not a thief; apples and plums and so on are quite safe, though the +turnip-tops are not: there is a subtle casuistry involved here--the +distinction between the quasi-wild and the garden product. He is not a +poacher in the sense of entering coverts, or even snaring a rabbit. If +the pheasants are so numerous and so tame that passing carters have to +whip them out of the way of the horses, it is hardly wonderful if one +should disappear now and then. Nor is he like the Running Jack that used +to accompany the more famous packs of fox-hounds, opening gates, holding +horses, and a hundred other little services, and who kept up with the +hunt by sheer fleetness of foot. + +Yet he is fleet of foot in his way, though never seen to run; he _pads_ +along on naked feet like an animal, never straightening the leg, but +always keeping the knee a little bent. With a basket of watercress slung +at his back by a piece of tar-cord, he travels rapidly in this way; his +feet go 'pad, pad' on the thick white dust, and he easily overtakes a +good walker and keeps up the pace for miles without exertion. The +watercress is a great staple, because it lasts for so many months. +Seeing the nimble way in which he gathers it, thrusting aside the +brook-lime, breaking off the coarser sprays, snipping away pieces of +root, sorting and washing, and thinking of the amount of work to be got +through before a shilling is earned, one would imagine that the slow, +idling life of the labourer, with his regular wages, would be far more +enticing. + +Near the stream the ground is perhaps peaty: little black pools appear +between tufts of grass, some of them streaked with a reddish or +yellowish slime that glistens on the surface of the dark water; and as +you step there is a hissing sound as the spongy earth yields, and a tiny +spout is forced forth several yards distant. Some of the drier part of +the soil the moucher takes to sell for use in gardens and flower-pots as +peat. + +The years roll on, and he grows old. But no feebleness of body or mind +can induce him to enter the workhouse; he cannot quit his old haunts. +Let it rain or sleet, or let the furious gale drive broken boughs across +the road, he still sleeps in some shed or under a straw-rick. In sheer +pity he is committed every now and then to prison for vagabondage--not +for punishment, but in order to save him from himself. It is in vain: +the moment he is out he returns to his habits. All he wants is a little +beer--he is not a drunkard--and a little tobacco, and the hedges. Some +chilly evening, as the shadows thicken, he shambles out of the town, and +seeks the limekiln in the ploughed field, where, the substratum being +limestone, the farmer burns it. Near the top of the kiln the ground is +warm; there he reclines and sleeps. + +The night goes on. Out from the broken blocks of stone now and again +there rises a lambent flame, to shine like a meteor for a moment and +then disappear. The rain falls. The moucher moves uneasily in his sleep; +instinctively he rolls or crawls towards the warmth, and presently lies +extended on the top of the kiln. The wings of the water-fowl hurtle in +the air as they go over; by-and-by the heron utters his loud call. + +Very early in the morning the quarryman comes to tend his fire, and +starts to see on the now redhot and glowing stones, sunk below the rim, +the presentment of a skeleton formed of the purest white ashes--a +ghastly spectacle in the grey of the dawn, as the mist rises and the +peewit plaintively whistles over the marshy meadow. + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + + +CHURCHYARD PHEASANTS: BEFORE THE BENCH + + +The tower of the church at Essant Hill was so low that it scarcely +seemed to rise above the maples in the hedges. It could not be seen +until the last stile in the footpath across the meadows was passed. +Church and tower then came into view together on the opposite side of a +large open field. A few aged hawthorn trees dotted the sward, and beyond +the church the outskirts of a wood were visible, but no dwellings could +be seen. Upon a second and more careful glance, however, the chimney of +a cottage appeared above a hedge, so covered with ivy as hardly to be +separated from the green of the boughs. + +There were houses of course somewhere in Essant, but they were so +scattered that a stranger might doubt the existence of the village. A +few farmsteads long distances apart, and some cottages standing in green +lanes and at the corners of the fields, were nearly all; there was +nothing resembling a 'street'--not so much as a row. The church was in +effect the village, and the church was simply the mausoleum of the +Dessant family, the owners of the place. Essant Hill as a name had been +rather a problem to the archaeologists, there being no hill: the ground +was quite level. The explanation at last admitted was that Essant Hill +was a corruption of D'Essantville. + +It seemed probable that the population had greatly diminished; because, +although the church was of great antiquity, there was space still for +interments in the yard. A yew tree of immense size stood in one corner, +and was by tradition associated with the fortunes of the family. Though +the old trunk was much decayed, yet there were still green and +flourishing shoots; so that the superstitious elders said the luck of +the house was returning. + +Within, the walls of the church were covered with marble slabs, and the +space was reduced by the tombs of the Dessants, one with a recumbent +figure; there were two brasses level with the pavement, and in the +chancel hung the faded hatchments of the dead. For the pedigree went +back to the Battle of Hastings, and there was scarce room for more +heraldry. From week's end to week's end the silent nave and aisles +remained empty; the chirp of the sparrows was the only sound to be heard +there. There being no house attached to the living, the holder could not +reside; so the old church slumbered in the midst of the meadows, the +hedges, and woods, day after day, year after year. + +You could sit on the low churchyard wall in early summer under the shade +of the elms in the hedge, whose bushes and briars came right over, and +listen to the whistling of the blackbirds or the varied note of the +thrush; you might see the whitethroat rise and sing just over the hedge, +or look upwards and watch the swallows and swifts wheeling, wheeling, +wheeling in the sky. No one would pass to disturb your meditations, +whether simply dreaming of nothing in the genial summer warmth, or +thinking over the course of history since the prows of the Norman ships +grounded on the beach. If we suppose the time, instead of June, to be +August or September, there would not even be the singing of the birds. +But as you sat on the wall, by-and-by the pheasants, tame as chickens, +would come up the hedge and over into the churchyard. + +Leaving the church to stroll by the footpath across the meadow towards +the wood, at the first gateway half-a-dozen more pheasants scatter +aside, just far enough to let you pass. In the short dusty lane more +pheasants; and again at the edge of the cornfield. None of these show +any signs of alarm, and only move just far enough to avoid being trodden +on. Approaching the wood there are yet more pheasants, especially near +the fir plantations that come up to the keeper's cottage and form one +side of the enclosure of his garden. The pheasants come up to the door +to pick up what they can--not long since they were fed there--and then +wander away between the slender fir trunks, and beyond them out into the +fields. + +The path leads presently into a beautiful park, the only defect of which +is that it is without undulation. It is quite level; but still the +clumps of noble timber are pleasant to gaze upon. In one spot there +still stands the grey wall and buttress of some ancient building, +doubtless the relic of an ecclesiastical foundation. The present mansion +is not far distant; it is of large size, but lacks elegance. Inside, +nothing that modern skill can supply to render a residence comfortable, +convenient, and (as art is understood in furniture) artistic has been +neglected. + +Behind the fir plantations there is an extensive range of stabling, +recently erected, with all the latest improvements. A telegraph wire +connects the house with the stable, so that carriage or horse may be +instantly summoned. Another wire has been carried to the nearest +junction with the general telegraphic system; so that the resident in +this retired spot may communicate his wishes without a moment's delay to +any part of the world. + +In the gardens and pleasure-grounds near the house all manner of +ornamental shrubs are planted. There are conservatories, vineries, +pineries; all the refinements of horticulture. The pheasants stray about +the gravel walks and across the close-mown lawn where no daisy dares to +lift its head. Yet, with all this precision of luxury, one thing is +lacking--_the_ one thing, the keystone of English country life--_i.e._ a +master whose heart is in the land. + +The estate is in process of 'nursing' for a minor. The revenues had +become practically sequestrated to a considerable extent in consequence +of careless living when the minor nominally succeeded. It happened that +the steward appointed was not only a lawyer of keen intelligence, but a +conscientious man. He did his duty thoroughly. Every penny was got out +of the estate that could be got, and every penny was saved. + +First, the rents were raised to the modern standard, many of them not +having been increased for years. Then the tenants were in effect ordered +to farm to the highest pitch, and to improve the soil itself by liberal +investment. Buildings, drains, and so forth were provided for them; they +only had to pay a small percentage upon the money expended in +construction. In this there was nothing that could be complained of; but +the hard, mechanical, unbending spirit in which it was done--the absence +of all kind of sympathy--caused a certain amount of discontent. The +steward next proceeded to turn the mansion, the park, home farm, and +preserves into revenue. + +Everything was prepared to attract the wealthy man who wanted the +temporary use of a good country house, first-class shooting and hunting. +He succeeded in doing what few gentlemen have accomplished: he made the +pheasants pay. One reason, of course, was that gentlemen have expenses +outside and beyond breeding and keeping: the shooting party itself is +expensive; whereas here the shooting party paid hard cash for their +amusement. The steward had no knowledge of pheasants; but he had a wide +experience of one side of human nature, and he understood accounts. + +The keepers were checked by figures at every turn, finding it impossible +to elude the businesslike arrangements that were made. In revenue the +result was highly successful. The mansion with the first-class shooting, +hunting, and lovely woodlands--every modern convenience and comfort in +the midst of the most rural scenery--let at a high price to good +tenants. There was an income from what had previously been profitless. +Under this shrewd management the estate was fast recovering. + +At the same time the whole parish groaned in spirit. The farmers +grumbled at the moral pressure which forced them to progress in spite of +themselves. They grumbled at the strange people who took up their +residence in their midst and suddenly claimed all the loyalty which was +the due of the old family. These people hunted over their fields, jumped +over the hedges, glanced at them superciliously, and seemed astonished +if every hat was not raised when they came in sight. The farmers felt +that they were regarded as ignorant barbarians, and resented the +town-bred insolence of people who aped the country gentleman. + +They grumbled about the over-preservation of game, and they grumbled +about the rabbits. The hunt had its grumble too because some of the +finest coverts were closed to the hounds, and because they wanted to +know what became of the foxes that formerly lived in those coverts. Here +was a beautiful place--a place that one might dream life away in--filled +with all manner of discontent. + +Everything was done with the best intention. But the keystone was +wanting--the landlord, the master, who had grown up in the traditions of +the spot, and between whom and the people there would have been, even +despite of grievances, a certain amount of sympathy. So true is it that +in England, under the existing system of land tenure, an estate cannot +be worked like the machinery of a factory. + +At first, when the pheasant-preserving began to reach such a height, +there was a great deal of poaching by the resident labourers. The +temptation was thrust so closely before their faces they could not +resist it. When pheasants came wandering into the cottage gardens, and +could even be enticed into the sheds and so secured by simply shutting +the door, men who would not have gone out of their way to poach were led +to commit themselves. + +There followed a succession of prosecutions and fines, till the place +began to get a reputation for that sort of thing. It was at last +intimated to the steward by certain gentlemen that this course of +prosecution was extremely injudicious. For it is a fact--a fact +carefully ignored sometimes--that resident gentlemen object to +prosecutions, and, so far from being anxious to fine or imprison +poachers, would very much rather not. The steward took the hint, and +instead increased his watchers. But by this time the novelty of +pheasants roaming about like fowls had begun to wear off, and their +services were hardly needed. Men went by pheasants with as much +indifference as they would pass a tame duck by the roadside. + +Such poachers as visited the woods came from a distance. Two determined +raids were carried out by strangers, who escaped. Every now and then +wires were found that had been abandoned, but the poaching ceased to be +more than is usual on most properties. So far as the inhabitants of the +parish were concerned it almost ceased altogether; but every now and +then the strollers, gipsies, and similar characters carried off a +pheasant or a hare, or half a dozen rabbits. These offenders when +detected were usually charged before the Bench at a market town not many +miles distant. Let us follow one there. + +The little town of L----, which has not even a branch railway, mainly +consists of a long street. In one part this street widens out, so that +the houses are some forty yards or more apart, and it then again +contracts. This irregularly shaped opening is the market-place, and here +in the centre stands a rude-looking building. It is supported upon thick +short pillars, and was perhaps preceded by a wooden structure. Under +these pillars there is usually a shabby chaise or two run in for cover, +and the spot is the general rendezvous of all the dogs in the town. + +This morning there are a few loafers hanging round the place; and the +tame town pigeons have fluttered down, and walk with nodding heads +almost up to them. These pigeons always come to the edge of a group of +people, mindful of the stray grain and peas that fall from the hands of +farmers and dealers examining samples on market days. Presently, two +constables come across carrying a heavy, clumsy box between them. They +unlock a door, and take the box upstairs into the hall over the pillars. +After them saunters a seedy man, evidently a clerk, with a rusty black +bag; and after him again--for the magistrates' Clerk's clerk must have +_his_ clerk--a boy with some leather-bound books. + +Some of the loafers touch their hats as a gentleman--a magistrate--rides +up the street. But although the church clock is striking the hour fixed +for the sessions to begin he does not come over to the hall upon +dismounting in the inn-yard, but quietly strolls away to transact some +business with the wine-merchant or the saddler. There really is not the +least hurry. The Clerk stands in the inn porch calmly enjoying the +September sunshine, and chatting with the landlord. Two or three more +magistrates drive up; presently the chairman strolls over on foot from +his house, which is almost in the town, to the inn, and joins in the +pleasant gossip going on there, of course in a private apartment. + +Up in the justice-room the seedy Clerk's clerk is leaning out of the +window and conversing with a man below who has come along with a +barrow-load of vegetables from his allotment. Some boys are spinning +tops under the pillars. On the stone steps that lead up to the hall a +young mother sits nursing her infant; she is waiting to 'swear' the +child. In the room itself several gipsy-looking men and women lounge in +a corner. At one end is a broad table and some comfortable chairs behind +it. In front of each chair, on the table, two sheets of clean foolscap +have been placed on a sheet of blotting-paper. These and a variety of +printed forms were taken from the clumsy box that is now open. + +At last there is a slight stir as a group is seen to emerge from the +inn, and the magistrates take their seats. An elderly man who sits by +the chair cocks his felt hat on the back of his head: the clerical +magistrate very tenderly places his beaver in safety on the broad +mantelpiece, that no irreverent sleeve may ruffle its gloss: several +others who rarely do more than nod assent range themselves on the +flanks; one younger man who looks as if he understood horses pulls out +his toothpick. The chairman, stout and gouty, seizes a quill and sternly +looks over the list of cases. + +Half a dozen summonses for non-payment of rates come first; then a +dispute between a farmer and his man. After this the young mother +'swears' her child; and, indeed, there is some very hard swearing here +on both sides. A wrangle between two women--neighbours--who accuse each +other of assault, and scream and chatter their loudest, comes next. +Before they decide it, the Bench retire, and are absent a long time. + +By degrees a buzz arises, till the justice-room is as noisy as a market. +Suddenly the door of the private room opens, and the Clerk comes out; +instantly the buzz subsides, and in the silence those who are nearest +catch something about the odds and the St. Leger, and an anything but +magisterial roar of laughter. The chairman appears, rigidly compressing +his features, and begins to deliver his sentence before he can sit down, +but the solemn effect is much marred by the passing of a steam ploughing +engine. The audience, too, tend away towards the windows to see whose +engine it is. + +'Silence!' cries the Clerk, who has himself been looking out of window; +the shuffling of feet ceases, and it is found that after this long +consultation the Bench have dismissed both charges. The next case on the +list is poaching; and at the call of his name one of the gipsy-looking +men advances, and is ordered to stand before that part of the table +which by consent represents the bar. + +'Oby Bottleton,' says the Clerk, half reading, half extemporizing, and +shuffling his papers to conceal certain slips of technicality; 'you are +charged with trespassing in pursuit of game at Essant Hill--that you did +use a wire on the estate--on land in the occupation of Johnson.'--'It's +a lie!' cries a good-looking, dark-complexioned woman, who has come up +behind the defendant (the whilome navvy), and carries a child so wrapped +in a shawl as to be invisible. 'Silence! or you'll have to go outside +the court. Mr. Dalton Dessant will leave the Bench during the hearing of +this case.' Mr. Dalton Dessant, one of the silent magistrates already +alluded to, bows to the chairman, and wriggles his chair back about two +feet from the table. There he gazes at the ceiling. He is one of the +trustees of the Essant Hill property; and the Bench are very careful to +consult public opinion in L---- borough. + +The first witness is an assistant keeper: the head keeper stands behind +him--a fine man, still upright and hearty-looking, but evidently at the +beginning of the vale of years; he holds his hat in his hand; the +sunlight falls through the casement on his worn velveteen jacket. The +assistant, with the aid of a few questions from the Clerk, gives his +evidence very clear and fairly. 'I saw the defendant's van go down the +lane,' he says: + +'It bean't my van,' interrupts the defendant; 'it's my brother's.' + +'You'll have an opportunity of speaking presently,' says the Clerk. 'Go +on' (to the witness). + +'After the van went down the lane, it stopped by the highway-road, and +the horse was taken out. The women left the van with baskets, and went +towards the village.' + +'Yes, yes; come to the point. Did you hide yourself by order of the head +keeper?' + +'I did--in the nutwood hedge by Three Corner Piece; after a bit I saw +the defendant.' + +'Had you any reason for watching there?' + +'There was a wire and a rabbit in it.' + +'Well, what happened?' + +'I waited a long time, and presently the defendant got over the gate. He +was very particular not to step on the soft mud by the gate--he kind of +leaped over it, not to leave the mark of his boots. He had a lurcher +with him, and I was afraid the dog would scent me in the hedge.' + +'You rascal!' (from the defendant's wife). + +'But he didn't, and, after looking carefully round, the defendant picked +up the rabbit, and put it and the wire in his pocket.' + +'What did you do then?' + +'I got out of the hedge and came towards him. Directly he saw me he ran +across the field; I whistled as loud as I could, and he' (jerking a +thumb back towards the head keeper) 'came out of the firs into the lane +and stopped him. We found the wire and the rabbit in his pocket, and two +more wires. I produce the wires.' + +This was the sum of the evidence; the head keeper simply confirmed the +latter part of it. Oby replied that it was all false from beginning to +end. He had not got corduroy trousers on that day, as stated. He was not +there at all: he was in the village, and he could call witnesses to +prove it. The Clerk reminded the audience that there was such a thing as +imprisonment for perjury. + +Then the defendant turned savagely on the first witness, and admitted +the truth of his statement by asking what he said when collared in the +lane. 'You said you had had a good lot lately, and didn't care if you +was nailed this time.' + +'Oh, what awful lies!' cried the wife. 'It's a wonder you don't fall +dead!' + +'You were not there,' the Clerk remarked quietly. 'Now, Oby, what is +your defence? Have you got any witnesses?' + +'No; I ain't got no witnesses. All as I did, I know I walked up the +hedge to look for mushrooms. I saw one of them things'--meaning the +wires on the table--'and I just stooped down to see what it was, 'cos I +didn't know. I never seed one afore; and I was just going to pick it up +and look at it' (the magistrates glance at each other, and cannot +suppress a smile at this profound innocence), 'when this fellow jumped +out and frightened me. I never seed no rabbit.' + +'Why, you put the rabbit in your pocket,' interrupts the first witness. + +'Never mind,' said the Clerk to the witness; 'let him go on.' + +'That's all as I got to say,' continues the defendant. 'I never seed no +such things afore; and if he hadn't come I should have put it down +again.' + +'But you were trespassing,' said the Clerk. + +'I didn't know it. There wasn't no notice-board.' + +'Now, Oby,' cried the head keeper, 'you know you've been along that lane +this ten years.' + +'That will do' (from the chairman); 'is there any more evidence?' + +As none was forthcoming, the Bench turned a little aside and spoke in +low tones. The defendant's wife immediately set up a sobbing, varied +occasionally by a shriek; the infant woke up and cried, and two or three +women of the same party behind began to talk in excited tones about +'Shame.' The sentence was 2_l_. and costs--an announcement that caused a +perfect storm of howling and crying. + +The defendant put his hands in his pockets with the complacent +expression of a martyr. 'I must go to gaol a' spose; none of ourn ever +went thur afore: a' spose _I_ must go.' 'Come,' said the Clerk, 'why, +you or your brother bought a piece of land and a cottage not long +ago,'--then to the Bench, 'They're not real gipsies: he is a grandson of +old Bottleton who had the tollgate; you recollect, Sir.' + +But the defendant declares he has no money; his friends shake their +heads gloomily; and amid the shrieking of his wife and the crying of the +child he is removed in the custody of two constables, to be presently +conveyed to gaol. With ferocious glances at the Bench, as if they would +like to tear the chairman's eyes out, the women leave the court. + +'Next case,' calls the Clerk. The court sits about two hours longer, +having taken some five hours to get through six cases. Just as the +chairman rises the poacher's wife returns to the table, without her +child, angrily pulls out a dirty canvas bag, and throws down three or +four sovereigns before the seedy Clerk's clerk. The canvas bag is +evidently half-full of money--the gleam of silver and gold is visible +within it. The Bench stay to note this proceeding with an amused +expression on their features. The woman looks at them as bold as brass, +and stalks off with her man. + +Half an hour afterwards, two of the magistrates riding away from the +town pass a small tavern on the outskirts. A travelling van is outside, +and from the chimney on its roof thin smoke arises. There is a little +group at the doorway, and among them stands the late prisoner. Oby holds +a foaming tankard in one hand, and touches his battered hat, as the +magistrates go by, with a gesture of sly humility. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + + +LUKE, THE RABBIT CONTRACTOR: THE BROOK-PATH + + +The waggon-track leading to the Upper Woods almost always presented +something of interest, and often of beauty. The solitude of the place +seemed to have attracted flowers and ferns as well as wild animals and +birds. For though flowers have no power of motion, yet seeds have a +negative choice and lie dormant where they do not find a kindly welcome. +But those carried hither by the birds or winds took root and flourished, +secure from the rude ploughshare or the sharp scythe. + +The slow rumble of waggon-wheels seldom disturbed the dreamy silence, or +interrupted the song of the birds; so seldom that large docks and +thistles grew calmly beside the ruts untouched by hoofs. From the thick +hedges on either side trailing brambles and briars stretched far out, +and here and there was a fallen branch, broken off by the winds, whose +leaves had turned brown and withered while all else was green. Round +sarsen stones had been laid down in the marshy places to form a firm +road, but the turf had long since covered most of them. Where the smooth +brown surfaces did project mosses had lined the base, and rushes leaned +over and hid the rest. + +In the ditches, under the shade of the brambles, the hart's-tongue fern +extended its long blade of dark glossy green. By the decaying stoles the +hardy fern flourished, under the trees on the mounds the lady fern could +be found, and farther up nearer the wood the tall brake almost +supplanted the bushes. Oak and ash boughs reached across: in the ash the +wood-pigeons lingered. Every now and then the bright colours of the +green woodpeckers flashed to and fro their nest in a tree hard by. They +would not have chosen it had not the place been nearly as quiet as the +wood itself. + +Blackthorn bushes jealously encroached on the narrow stile that entered +the lane from a meadow--a mere rail thrust across a gap. The gates, set +in deep recesses--short lanes themselves cut through the mounds--were +rotten and decayed, so as to scarcely hold together, and not to be moved +without care. Hawthorn branches on each side pushed forward and lessened +the opening; on the ground, where the gateposts had rotted nearly off, +fungi came up in thick bunches. + +The little meadows to which they led were rich in oaks, growing on the +'shore' of the ditches, tree after tree. The grass in them was not +plentiful, but the flowers were many; in the spring the orchis sent up +its beautiful purple, and in the heat of summer the bird's-foot lotus +flourished in the sunny places. Farther up, nearer the wood, the lane +became hollow--worn down between high banks, at first clothed with fern, +and then, as the hill got steeper, with fir trees. + +Where firs are tall and thick together the sunbeams that fall aslant +between them seem to be made more visible than under other trees, by the +motes or wood dust in the air. Still farther the banks became even +steeper, till nothing but scanty ash stoles could grow upon them, the +fir plantations skirting along the summit. Then suddenly, at a turn, the +ground sank into a deep hollow, where in spring the eye rested with +relief and pleasure on the tops of young firs, acre after acre, just +freshly tinted with the most delicate green. From thence the track went +into the wood. + +By day all through the summer months there was always something to be +seen in the lane--a squirrel, a stoat; always a song-bird to listen to, +a flower or fern to gather. By night the goatsucker visited it, and the +bat, and the white owl gliding down the slope. In winter when the clouds +hung low the darkness in the hollow between the high banks, where the +light was shut out by the fir trees, was like that of a cavern. It was +then that night after night a strange procession wended down it. + +First came an old man, walking stiffly--not so much from age as +rheumatism--and helping his unsteady steps on the slippery sarsen stones +with a stout ground-ash staff. Behind him followed a younger man, and in +the rear a boy. Sometimes there was an extra assistant, making four; +sometimes there was only the old man and one companion. Each had a long +and strong ash stick across his shoulder, on which a load of rabbits was +slung, an equal number in front and behind, to balance. The old fellow, +who was dressed shabbily even for a labourer, was the contractor for the +rabbits shot or ferreted in these woods. + +He took the whole number at a certain fixed price all round, and made +what he could out of them. Every evening in the season he went to the +woods to fetch those that had been captured during the day, conveying +them to his cottage on the outskirts of the village. From thence they +went by carrier's cart to the railway. Old Luke's books, such as they +were, were quite beyond the understanding of any one but himself and his +wife; nor could even they themselves tell you exactly how many dozen he +purchased in the year. But in his cups the wicked old hypocrite had +often been known to boast that he paid the lord of the manor as much +money as the rent of a small farm. + +One of Luke's eyes was closed with a kind of watery rheum, and was never +opened except when he thought a rabbit was about to jump into a net. The +other was but half open, and so overhung with a thick grey eyebrow as to +be barely visible. His cheeks were the hue of clay, his chin scrubby, +and a lanky black forelock depended over one temple. A battered felt +hat, a ragged discoloured slop, and corduroys stained with the clay of +the banks completed his squalid costume. + +A more miserable object or one apparently more deserving of pity it +would be hard to imagine. To see him crawl with slow and feeble steps +across the fields in winter, gradually working his way in the teeth of a +driving rain, was enough to arouse compassion in the hardest heart: +there was something so utterly woebegone in his whole aspect--so +weather-beaten, as if he had been rained upon ever since childhood. He +seemed humbled to the ground--crushed and spiritless. + +Now and then Luke was employed by some of the farmers to do their +ferreting for them and to catch the rabbits in the banks by the +roadside. More than once benevolent people driving by in their cosy +cushioned carriages, and seeing this lonely wretch in the bitter wind +watching a rabbit's hole as if he were a dog well beaten and thrashed, +had been known to stop and call the poor old fellow to the carriage +door. Then Luke would lay his hand on his knee, shake his head, and +sorrowfully state his pains and miseries: 'Aw, I be ter-rable bad, I +be,' he would say; 'I be most terrable bad: I can't but just drag my leg +out of this yer ditch. It be a dull job, bless 'ee, this yer.' The tone, +the look of the man, the dreary winter landscape all so thoroughly +agreed together that a few small silver coins would drop into his hand, +and Luke, with a deep groaning sigh of thankfulness, would bow and +scrape and go back to his 'dull job.' + +Luke, indeed, somehow or other was always in favour with the 'quality.' +He was as firmly fixed in his business as if he had been the most clever +courtier. It was not of the least use for any one else to offer to take +the rabbits, even if they would give more money. No, Luke was the trusty +man; Luke, and nobody else, was worthy. So he grovelled on from year to +year, blinking about the place. When some tenant found a gin in the +turnip field, or a wire by the clover, and quietly waited till Luke came +fumbling by and picked up the hare or rabbit, it did not make the +slightest difference though he went straight to the keeper and made a +formal statement. + +Luke had an answer always ready: he had not set the wire, but had +stumbled on it unawares, and was going to take it to the keeper; or he +had noticed a colony of rats about, and had put the gin for them. Now, +the same excuse might have been made by any other poacher; the +difference lay in this--that Luke was believed. At all events, such +little trifles were forgotten, and Luke went on as before. He did a good +deal of the ferreting in the hedges outside the woods himself: if he +took home three dozen from the mound and only paid for two dozen, that +scarcely concerned the world at large. + +If in coming down the dark and slippery lane at night somebody with a +heavy sack stepped out from the shadow at the stile, and if the contents +of the sack were rapidly transferred to the shoulder-sticks, or the bag +itself bodily taken along--why, there was nobody there to see. As for +the young man and the boy who helped, those discreet persons had always +a rabbit for their own pot, or even for a friend; and indeed it was +often remarked that old Luke could always get plenty of men to work for +him. No one ever hinted at searching the dirty shed at the side of his +cottage that was always locked by day, or looking inside the disused +oven that it covered. But if fur or feathers had been found there, was +not he the contractor? And clearly if a pheasant _was_ there he could +not be held responsible for the unauthorised acts of his assistants. + +The truth was that Luke was the most thorough-paced poacher in the +place--or, rather, he was a wholesale receiver. His success lay in +making it pleasant for everybody all round. It was pleasant for the +keeper, who could always dispose of a few hares or pheasants if he +wanted a little money. The keeper, in ways known to himself, made it +pleasant for the bailiff. It was equally pleasant for the under-keepers, +who had what they wanted (in reason), and enjoyed a little by-play on +their own account. It was pleasant for his men; and it was +pleasant--specially pleasant--at a little wayside inn kept by Luke's +nephew, and, as was believed, with Luke's money. Everybody concerned in +the business could always procure refreshment there, including the +policeman. + +There was only one class of persons whom Luke could not conciliate; and +they were the tenants. These very inconsiderate folk argued that it was +the keepers' and Luke's interest to maintain a very large stock of +rabbits, which meant great inroads on their crops. There seemed to be +even something like truth in their complaints; and once or twice the +more independent carried their grievances to headquarters so effectually +as to elicit an order for the destruction of the rabbits forthwith on +their farms. But of what avail was such an order when the execution of +it was entrusted to Luke himself? + +In time the tenants got to put up with Luke; and the wiser of them +turned round and tried to make it still more pleasant for _him_: they +spoke a good word for him; they gave him a quart of ale, and put little +things in his way, such as a chance to buy and sell faggots at a small +profit. Not to be ungrateful, Luke kept their rabbits within reasonable +bounds; and he had this great recommendation--that whether they bullied +him or whether they gave him ale and bread-and-cheese, Luke was always +humble and always touched his hat. + +His wife kept a small shop for the sale of the coarser groceries and a +little bacon. He had also rather extensive gardens, from which he sold +quantities of vegetables. It was more than suspected that the carrier's +cart was really Luke's--that is, he found the money for horsing it, and +could take possession if he liked. The carrier's cart took his rabbits, +and the game he purchased of poachers, to the railway, and the +vegetables from the gardens to the customers in town. + +At least one cottage besides his own belonged to him; and some would +have it that this was one of the reasons of his success with the +'quality.' The people at the great house, anxious to increase their +influence, wished to buy every cottage and spare piece of land. This was +well known, and many small owners prided themselves upon spiting the big +people at the great house by refusing to sell, or selling to another +person. The great house was believed to have secured the first 'refuse' +of Luke's property, if ever he thought of selling. Luke, in fact, among +the lower classes was looked upon as a capitalist--a miser with an +unknown hoard. The old man used to sit of a winter's evening, after he +had brought down the rabbits, by the hearth, making rabbit-nets of +twine. Almost everybody who came along the road, home from the market +town, stopped, lifted the latch without knocking, and looked in to tell +the news or hear it. But Luke's favourite manoeuvre was to take out his +snuff-box, tap it, and offer it to the person addressing him. This he +would do to a farmer, even though it were the largest tenant of all. For +this snuff-box was a present from the lady at the great house, who took +an interest in poor old Luke's infirmities, and gave him the snuff-box, +a really good piece of workmanship, well filled with the finest snuff, +to console his wretchedness. + +Of this box Luke was as proud as if it had been the insignia of the +Legion of Honour, and never lost an opportunity of showing it to every +one of standing. When the village heard of this kindly present it ran +over in its mind all that it knew about the stile, and the sacks, and +the disused oven. Then the village very quietly shrugged its shoulders, +and though it knew not the word irony, well understood what that term +conveys. + +At the foot of the hill on which the Upper Woods were situate there +extended a level tract of meadows with some cornfields. Through these +there flowed a large slow brook, often flooded in winter by the water +rushing down from the higher lands. It was pleasant in the early year to +walk now and then along the footpath that followed the brook, noting the +gradual changes in the hedges. + +When the first swallow of the spring wheels over the watery places the +dry sedges of last year still stand as they grew. They are supported by +the bushes beside the meadow ditch where it widens to join the brook, +and the water it brings down from the furrows scarcely moves through the +belt of willow lining the larger stream. As the soft west wind runs +along the hedge it draws a sigh from the dead dry stalks and leaves that +will no more feel the rising sap. + +By the wet furrows the ground has still a brownish tint, for there the +floods lingered and discoloured the grass. Near the ditch pointed flags +are springing up, and the thick stems of the marsh marigold. From +bunches of dark green leaves slender stalks arise and bear the golden +petals of the marsh buttercups, the lesser celandine. If the wind blows +cold and rainy they will close, and open again to the sunshine. + +At the outside of the withies, where the earth is drier, stand tall +horse-chestnut trees, aspen, and beech. The leaflets of the +horse-chestnut are already opening; but on the ground, half-hidden under +beech leaves not yet decayed, and sycamore leaves reduced to imperfect +grey skeletons, there lies a chestnut shell. It is sodden, and has lost +its original green--the prickles, too, have decayed and disappeared; yet +at a touch it falls apart, and discloses two chestnuts, still of a rich, +deep polished brown. + +On the very bank of the brook there grows a beech whose bare boughs +droop over, almost dipping in the water, where it comes with a swift +rush from the narrow arches of a small bridge whose bricks are green +with moss. The current is still slightly turbid, for the floods have not +long subsided, and the soaked meadows and ploughed fields send their +rills to swell the brook and stain it with sand and earth. On the +surface float down twigs and small branches forced from the trees by the +gales: sometimes an entangled mass of aquatic weeds--long, slender green +filaments twisted and matted together--comes more slowly because heavy +and deep in the water. + +A little bird comes flitting silently from the willows and perches on +the drooping beech branch. It is a delicate little creature, the breast +of a faint and dull yellowy green, the wings the lightest brown, and +there is a pencilled streak over the eye. The beak is so slender it +scarce seems capable of the work it should do, the legs and feet so tiny +that they are barely visible. Hardly has he perched than the keen eyes +detect a small black speck that has just issued from the arch, floating +fast on the surface of the stream and borne round and round in a tiny +whirlpool. + +He darts from the branch, hovers just above the water, and in a second +has seized the black speck and returned to the branch. A moment or two +passes, and again he darts and takes something--this time +invisible--from the water. A third time he hovers, and on this occasion +just brushes the surface. Then, suddenly finding that these movements +are watched, he flits--all too soon--up high into the beech and away +into the narrow copse. The general tint and shape of the bird are those +of the willow wren, but it is difficult to identify the species in so +brief a glance and without hearing its note. + +The path now trends somewhat away from the stream and skirts a ploughed +field, where the hedges are cropped close and the elms stripped of the +lesser boughs about the trunks, that the sparrows may not find shelter. +But all the same there are birds here too--one in the thick low hedge, +two or three farther on, another in the ditch perching on the dead white +stems of last year's plants that can hardly support an ounce weight, and +all calling to each other. It is six marsh tits, as busy as they can +well be. + +One rises from the ditch to the trunk of an elm where the thick bark is +green with lichen: he goes up the tree like a woodpecker, and peers into +every crevice. His little beak strikes, peck, peck, at a place where +something is hidden: then he proceeds farther up the trunk: next he +descends a few steps in a sidelong way, and finally hops down some three +inches head foremost, and alights again on the all but perpendicular +bark. But his tail does not touch the tree, and in another minute down +he flies again to the ditch. + +A shrill and yet low note that sounds something like 'skeek-skeek' comes +from a birch, and another 'skeek-skeek' answers from an elm. It is like +the friction of iron against iron without oil on the bearings. This is +the tree-climber calling to his mate. He creeps over the boles of the +birch, and where the larger limbs join the trunk, trailing his tail +along the bark, and clinging so closely that but for the sharp note he +would be passed. Even when that has called attention, the colour of his +back so little differs from the colour of bark that if he is some height +up the tree it is not easy to detect him. + +The days go on and the hedges become green--the sun shines, and the +blackbirds whistle in the trees. They leave the hedge, and mount into +the elm or ash to deliver their song; then, after a pause, dive down +again to the bushes. Up from the pale green corn that is yet but a few +inches high rises a little brown bird, mounting till he has attained to +the elevation of the adjacent oak. Then, beginning his song, he extends +his wings, lifts his tail, and gradually descends slanting +forward--slowly, like a parachute--sing, sing, singing all the while +till the little legs, that can be seen against the sky somewhat +depending, touch the earth and the wheat hides him. Still from the clod +comes the finishing bar of his music. + +In a short time up he rises again, and this time from the summit of his +flight sinks in a similar manner singing to a branch of the oak. There +he sings again; and, again rising, comes back almost to the same bough +singing as he descends. But he is not alone: from an elm hard by come +the same notes, and from yet another tree they are also repeated. They +cannot rest--now one flits from the topmost bough of an elm to another +topmost bough; now a second comes up from feeding, and cries from the +branches. They are tree-pipits; and though the call is monotonous, yet +it is so cheerful and pleasing that one cannot choose but stay and +listen. + +Suddenly, two that have been vigorously calling start forward together +and meet in mid-air. They buffet each other with their wings; their +little beaks fiercely strike; their necks are extended; they manoeuvre +round each other, trying for an advantage. They descend, heedless in the +rage of their tiny hearts, within a few yards of the watcher, and then +in alarm separate. But one flies to the oak branch and defiantly calls +immediately. + +Over the meadows comes the distant note of the cuckoo. When he first +calls his voice is short and somewhat rough, but in a few days it gains +power. Then the second syllable has a mellow ring: and as he cries from +the tree, the note, swiftly repeated and echoed by the wood, dwells on +the ear something like the 'hum' or vibration of a beautiful bell. + +As the hedges become green the ivy leaves turn brown at the edge and +fall; the wild ivy is often curiously variegated. At the foot of the +tree up which it climbs the leaves are five-angled, higher up they lose +the angles and become rounded, though growing on the same plant. +Sometimes they have a grey tint, especially those that trail along the +bank; sometimes the leaves are a reddish brown with pale green ribs. + +By the brook now the meadow has become of a rich bright green, the +stream has sunk and is clear, and the sunlight dances on the ripples. +The grasses at the edge--the turf--curl over and begin to grow down the +steep side that a little while since was washed by the current. Where +there is a ledge of mud and sand the yellow wagtail runs; he stands on a +stone and jerks his tail. + +The ploughed field that comes down almost to the brook--a mere strip of +meadow between--is green too with rising wheat, high enough now to hide +the partridges. Before it got so tall it was pleasant to watch the pair +that frequent it; they were so confident that they did not even trouble +to cower. At any other time of year they would have run, or flown; but +then, though scarcely forty yards away and perfectly visible, they +simply ceased feeding but showed no further alarm. + +Upon the plough birds in general should look as their best friend, for +it provides them with the staff of life as much as it does man. The +earth turned up under the share yields them grubs and insects and worms: +the seed is sown and the clods harrowed, and they take a second toll; +the weeds are hoed or pulled up, and at their roots there are more +insects; from the stalk and ears and the bloom of the rising corn they +seize caterpillars; when it is ripe they enjoy the grain; when it is cut +and carried there are ears in the stubble, and they can then feast on +the seeds of the innumerable plants that flowered among it; finally +comes the plough again. It is as if the men and horses worked for the +birds. + +The horse-chestnut trees in the narrow copse bloom; the bees are humming +everywhere and summer is at hand. Presently the brown cockchafers will +come almost like an army of locusts, as suddenly appearing without a +sign. They seem to be particularly numerous where there is much maple in +the hedges. + +Resting now on the sward by the stream--contracted in seeming by the +weeds and flags and fresh sedges--there comes the distant murmur of +voices and the musical laugh of girls. The ear tries to distinguish the +words and gather the meaning; but the syllables are intertangled--it is +like listening to a low sweet song in a language all unknown. This is +the water falling gently over the mossy hatch and splashing faintly on +the stones beneath; the blue dragon-flies dart over the smooth surface +or alight on a broad leaf--these blue dragon-flies when thus resting +curl the tail upwards. + +Farther up above the mere there is a spot where the pool itself ends, or +rather imperceptibly disappears among a vast mass of aquatic weeds. To +these on the soft oozy mud succeed acres of sedge and rush and great +turfs of greyish grass. Low willows are scattered about, and alder at +the edge and where the ground is firmer. This is the home of the +dragon-flies, of the coots, whose white bald foreheads distinguish them +at a distance, and of the moorhens. + +A narrow lane crosses it on a low bank or causeway but just raised above +the level of the floods. It is bordered on either side by thick hawthorn +hedges, and these again are further rendered more impassable by the +rankest growth of hemlocks, 'gicks,' nettles, hedge-parsley, and similar +coarse plants. In these the nettle-creeper (white-throat) hides her +nest, and they have so encroached that the footpath is almost +threatened. This lane leads from the Upper Woods across the marshy level +to the cornfields, being a branch from that down which Luke the +contractor carried his rabbits. + +Now a hare coming from the uplands beyond the woods, or from the woods, +and desirous of visiting the cornfields of the level grounds below, +found it difficult to pass the water. For besides the marsh itself, the +mere, and the brook, another slow, stagnant stream, quite choked with +sedges and flags, uncut for years, ran into it, or rather joined it, and +before doing so meandered along the very foot of the hill-side over +which the woods grew. To a hare or a rabbit, therefore, there was but +one path or exit without taking to the water in this direction for +nearly a mile, and that was across this narrow raised causeway. The +pheasants frequently used it, as if preferring to walk than to fly. +Partridges came too, to seat themselves in the dry dust--a thing they do +daily in warm weather. + +Hares were constantly passing from the cornfields to the wood, and the +wood to the cornfields; and they had another reason for using this +track, because so many herbs and plants, whose leaves they like better +than grass, flourished at the sides of the hedges. No scythe cuts them +down, as it does by the hedges in the meadows; nor was a man sent round +with a reaping hook to chop them off, as is often done round the arable +fields. There was, therefore, always a feast here, to which, also, the +rabbits came. + +The poachers were perfectly well aware of all this, and as a consequence +this narrow lane became a most favourite haunt of theirs. A wire set in +the runs that led to the causeway, or in the causeway itself, was almost +certain to be thrown. At one time it was occasionally netted; and now +and then a bolder fellow hid himself in the bushes with a gun, and took +his choice of pheasant, partridge, hare, or rabbit. These practices were +possible, because although so secluded, there was a public right-of-way +along the lane. + +But of recent years, as game became more valued and the keepers were +increased, a check was put upon it, though even now wires are frequently +found which poachers have been obliged to abandon. They are loth to give +up a place that has a kind of poaching reputation. As if in revenge for +the interference, they have so ransacked the marsh every spring for the +eggs of the waterfowl that the wild duck will not lay there, but seek +spots safer from such enemies. The marsh is left to the coots and +moorhens that from thence stock the brooks. + + + + + +CHAPTER X + + + +FARMER WILLUM'S PLACE: SNIPE SHOOTING + + +One October morning towards the end of the month, Orion and I started to +beat over Redcote Farm upon the standing invitation of the occupier. +There was a certainty of sport of some kind, because the place had +remained almost unchanged for the last century. It is 'improvement' that +drives away game and necessitates the pheasant preserve. + +The low whitewashed walls of the house were of a dull yellowish hue from +the beating of the weather. They supported a vast breadth of thatched +roof drilled by sparrows and starlings. Under the eaves the swallows' +nests adhered, and projecting shelves were fixed to prevent any +inconvenience from them. Some of the narrow windows were still darkened +with the black boarding put up in the days of the window tax. + +In the courtyard a number of stout forked stakes were used for putting +the dairy buckets on, after being cleaned, to dry. No attempt was made +to separate the business from the inner life of the house. Here in front +these oaken buckets, scoured till nearly white, their iron handles +polished like silver, were close under the eyes of any one looking out. +By the front door a besom leaned against the wall that every comer might +clean the mud from his boots; and you stepped at once from the threshold +into the sitting-room. A lane led past the garden, if that could be +called a lane which widened into a field and after rain was flooded so +deeply as to be impassable to foot passengers. + +The morning we had chosen was fine; and after shaking hands with old +Farmer 'Willum,' whose shooting days were over, we entered the lane, and +by it the fields. The meadows were small, enclosed with double-mounds, +and thickly timbered, so that as the ground was level you could not see +beyond the field in which you stood, and upon looking over the gate +might surprise a flock of pigeons, a covey of partridges, or a rabbit +out feeding. Though the tinted leaves were fast falling, the hedges were +still full of plants and vegetation that prevented seeing through them. +The 'kuck-kuck' of the redwings came from the bushes--the first note of +approaching winter--and the tips of the rushes were dead. Red haws on +the hawthorn and hips on the briar sprinkled the hedge with bright spots +of colour. + +The two spaniels went with such an eager rush into a thick double-mound, +dashing heedlessly through the nettles and under the brambles, that we +hastened to get one on each side of the hedge. A rustling--a short bark; +another, then a movement among the rushes in the ditch, evidently not +made by the dogs; then a silence. But the dogs come back, and as they +give tongue the rabbit rushes past a bare spot on the slope of the bank. +I fire--a snap shot--and cut out some fur, but do no further harm; the +pellets bury themselves in the earth. But, startled and perhaps just +stung by a stray shot, the rabbit bolts fairly at last twenty yards in +front of Orion, the spaniel tearing at his heels. + +Up goes the double-barrel with a bright gleam as the sunlight glances on +it. A second of suspense: then from the black muzzle darts a cylinder +of tawny flame and an opening cone of white smoke: a sharp report rings +on the ear. The rabbit rolls over and over, and is dead before the dog +can seize him. After harling the rabbit, Orion hangs him high on a +projecting branch, so that the man who is following us at a distance may +easily find the game. He is a labourer, and we object to have him with +us, as we know he would be certain to get in the way. + +We then tried a corner where two of these large mounds, meeting, formed +a small copse in which grew a quantity of withy and the thick grasses +that always border the stoles. A hare bolted almost directly the dogs +went in: hares trust in their speed, rabbits in doubling for cover. I +fired right and left, and missed: fairly missed with both barrels. Orion +jumped upon the mound from the other side, and from that elevation sent +a third cartridge after her. + +It was a long, a very long shot, but the hare perceptibly winced. Still, +she drew easily away from the dogs, going straight for a distant +gateway. But before it was reached the pace slackened; she made +ineffectual attempts to double as the slow spaniels overtook her, but +her strength was ebbing, and they quickly ran in. Reloading, and in none +of the best of tempers, I followed the mound. The miss was of course the +gun's fault--it was foul; or the cartridges, or the bad quality of the +powder. + +We passed the well-remembered hollow ash pollard, whence, years before, +we had taken the young owls, and in which we had hidden the old +single-barrel gun one sultry afternoon when it suddenly came on to +thunder. The flashes were so vivid and the discharges seemingly so near +that we became afraid to hold the gun, knowing that metal attracted +electricity. So it was put in the hollow tree out of the wet, and with +it the powder-flask, while we crouched under an adjacent hawthorn till +the storm ceased. + +Then by the much-patched and heavy gate where I shot my first snipe, +that rose out of the little stream and went straight up over the top +bar. The emotion, for it was more than excitement, of that moment will +never pass from memory. It was the bird of all others that I longed to +kill, and certainly to a lad the most difficult. Day after day I went +down into the water-meadows; first thinking over the problem of the +snipe's peculiar twisting flight. At one time I determined that I would +control the almost irresistible desire to fire till the bird had +completed his burst of zig-zag and settled to something like a straight +line. At another I as firmly resolved to shoot the moment the snipe rose +before he could begin to twist. But some unforeseen circumstance always +interfered with the execution of these resolutions. + +Now the snipe got up unexpectedly right under foot; now one rose thirty +yards ahead; now he towered straight up, forced to do so by the tall +willows; and occasionally four or five rising together and calling +'sceap, sceap' in as many different directions, made me hesitate at +which to aim. The continual dwelling upon the problem rendered me +nervous, so that I scarcely knew when I pulled the trigger. + +But one day, in passing this gateway, which was a long distance from the +particular water-meadows where I had practised, and not thinking of +snipes, suddenly one got up, and with a loud 'sceap' darted over the +gate. The long slender gun--the old single-barrel--came to the shoulder +instinctively, without premeditation, and the snipe fell. + +Coming now to the brook, which was broad and bordered by a hedge on the +opposite side, I held Orion's gun while he leaped over. The bank was +steep and awkward, but he had planned his leap so as to alight just +where he could at once grasp an ash branch and so save himself from +falling back into the water. He could not, however, stay suspended +there, but had to scramble over the hedge, and then called for his gun. +I leaned mine against a hollow withy pollard, and called 'ready.' + +Taking his gun a few inches above the trigger guard (and with the guard +towards his side), holding it lightly just where it seemed to balance in +a perpendicular position, I gave it a slow heave rather than a throw, +and it rose into the air. This peculiar _feeling_ hoist, as it were, +caused it to retain the perpendicular position as it passed over brook +and hedge in a low curve. As it descended it did indeed slope a little, +and Orion caught it with one hand easily. The hedge being low he could +see it coming; but guns are sometimes heaved in this way over hedges +that have not been cropped for years. Then the gun suddenly appears in +the air, perhaps fifteen feet high, while the catch depends not only +upon the dexterity of the hand but the ear--to judge correctly where the +person who throws it is standing, as he is invisible. + +The spaniels plunged in the brook among the flags, but though they made +a great splashing nothing came of it till we approached a marshy place +where was a pond. A moorhen then rose and scuttled down the brook, her +legs dragging along the surface some distance before she could get up, +and the sunshine sparkling on the water that dropped from her. I fired +and knocked her over: at the sound of the discharge a bird rose from the +low mound by the pond some forty yards ahead. My second barrel was empty +in an instant. + +Both Orion's followed; but the distance, the intervening pollard +willows, or our excitement spoilt the aim. The woodcock flew off +untouched, and made straight away from the territories we could beat +into those that were jealously guarded by a certain keeper with whom +Farmer 'Willum' had waged war for years. 'Come on!' shouted Orion as +soon as he had marked the cock down in a mound two fields away. Throwing +him my gun, I leaped the brook; and we at first raced, but on second +thoughts walked slowly, for the mound. Running disturbs accuracy of +fire, and a woodcock was much too rare a visitor for the slightest +chance to be lost. + +As we approached we considered that very probably the cock would either +lie close till we had walked past, and get up behind, or he would rise +out of gunshot. What we were afraid of was his making for the preserves, +which were not far off. So we tossed for the best position, and I lost. +I had therefore to get over on the side of the hedge towards the +preserves and to walk down somewhat faster than Orion, who was to keep +(on his side) about thirty yards behind. The object was to flush the +cock on his side, so that if missed the bird might return towards our +territories. In a double-mound like this it is impossible to tell what a +woodcock will do, but this was the best thing we could think of. + +About half-way down the hedge I heard Orion fire both barrels in quick +succession--the mound was so thick I could not see through. The next +instant the cock came over the top of the hedge just above my head. +Startled at seeing me so close, he flew straight down along the summit +of the bushes--a splendid chance to look at from a distance; but in +throwing up the gun a projecting briar caught the barrels, and before I +could recover it the bird came down at the side of the hedge. + +It was another magnificent chance; but again three pollard willows +interfered, and as I fired the bark flew off one of them in small +strips. Quickened by the whistling pellets, the cock suddenly lifted +himself again to the top of the hedge to go over, and for a moment came +full in view, and quite fifty yards away. I fired a snap shot as a +forlorn hope, and lost sight of him; but the next instant I heard Orion +call, 'He's down!' One single chance pellet had dropped the cock--he +fell on the other side just under the hedge. + +We hastened back to the brook, thinking that the shooting would attract +the keepers, and did not stay to look at the bird till safe over the +water. The long beak, the plumage that seems painted almost in the exact +tints of the dead brown leaves he loves so well, the eyes large by +comparison and so curiously placed towards the poll of the head as if to +see behind him--there was not a point that did not receive its share of +admiration. We shot about half a dozen rabbits, two more hares, and a +woodpigeon afterwards; but all these were nothing compared with the +woodcock. + +How Farmer 'Willum' chuckled over it--especially to think that we had +cut out the game from the very batteries of the enemy! It was the one +speck of bitterness in the old man's character--his hatred of this +keeper. Disabled himself by age and rheumatism from walking far, he +heard daily reports from his men of this fellow coming over the boundary +to shoot, or drive pheasant or partridge away. It was a sight to see +Farmer 'Willum' stretch his bulky length in his old armchair, right +before the middle of the great fire of logs on the hearth, twiddling his +huge thumbs, and every now and then indulging in a hearty laugh, +followed by a sip at the 'straight-cup.' + +There was a stag's horn over the staircase: 'Willum' loved to tell how +it came there. One severe winter long since, the deer in the forest many +miles away broke cover, forced by hunger, and came into the rickyards +and even the gardens. Most of them were got back, but one or two +wandered beyond trace. Those who had guns were naturally on the +look-out; indeed, a regular hunt was got up--'Willum,' then young and +active, in it of course. This chase was not successful; but early one +morning, going to look for wild geese in the water-meadow with his +long-barrelled gun, he saw something in a lonely rickyard. Creeping +cautiously up, he rested the heavy gun on an ash stole, and the big +duck-shot tore its way into the stag's shoulder. Those days were gone, +but still his interest in shooting was unabated. + +Nothing had been altered on the place since he was a boy: the rent even +was the same. But all that is now changed--swept away before modern +improvements; and the rare old man is gone too, and I think his only +enemy also. + +There was nothing I used to look forward to, as the summer waned, with +so much delight as the snipe shooting. Regularly as the swallow to the +eaves in spring, the snipe comes back with the early frosts of autumn to +the same well-known spots--to the bend of the brook or the boggy corner +in the ploughed field--but in most uncertain numbers. Sometimes flocks +of ten or twenty, sometimes only twos and threes are seen, but always +haunting particular places. + +They have a special affection for peaty ground, black and spongy, where +every footstep seems to squeeze water out of the soil with a slight +hissing sound, and the boot cuts through the soft turf. There, where a +slow stream winds in and out, unmarked by willow or bush, but fringed +with green aquatic grasses growing on a margin of ooze, the snipe finds +tempting food; or in the meadows where a little spring breaks forth in +the ditch and does not freeze--for water which has just bubbled out of +the earth possesses this peculiarity, and is therefore favourable to low +forms of insect or slug life in winter--the snipe may be found when the +ponds are bound with ice. + +Some of the old country folk used to make as much mystery about this +bird as the cuckoo. Because it was seldom seen till the first fogs the +belief was that it had lost its way in the mist at sea, and come inland +by mistake. + +Just as in the early part of the year green buds and opening flowers +welcome swallow and cuckoo, so the colours of the dying leaf prepare the +way for the second feathered immigration in autumn. Once now and then +the tints of autumn are so beautiful that the artist can hardly convey +what he sees to canvas. The maples are aglow with orange, the oaks one +mass of buff, the limes light gold, the elms a soft yellow. In the +hawthorn thickets bronze spots abound; here and there a bramble leaf has +turned a brilliant crimson (though many bramble leaves will remain a +dull green all the winter through); the edible chestnut sheds leaves of +a dark fawn hue, but all, scattered by the winds, presently resolve into +a black pulp upon the earth. Noting these signs the sportsman gets out +his dust-shot for the snipe, and the farmer, as he sees the fieldfare +flying over after a voyage from Norway, congratulates himself that last +month was reasonably dry, and enabled him to sow his winter seed. + +'Sceap--sceap!' and very often the snipe successfully carries out the +intention expressed in his odd-sounding cry, and does escape in reality. +Although I could not at first put my theory into practice, yet I found +by experience that it was correct. He is the exception to the golden +rule that the safest way lies in the middle, and that therefore you +should fire not too soon nor too late, but half-way between. But the +snipe must either be knocked over the instant he rises from the ground, +and before he has time to commence his puzzling zig-zag flight, or else +you must wait till he has finished his corkscrew burst. + +Then there is a moment just before he passes out of range when he glides +in a straight line and may be hit. This singular zig-zag flight so +deceives the eye as almost to produce the idea of a spiral movement. No +barrel can ever be jerked from side to side swiftly enough, no +hair-trigger is fine enough, to catch him then, except by the chance of +a vast scattering over-charge, which has nothing to do with sport. If he +rises at some little distance, then fire instantly, because by the time +the zig-zag is done the range will be too great; if he starts up under +your feet, out of a bunch of rushes, as is often the case, then give him +law till his eccentric twist is finished. + +When the smoke has cleared away in the crisp air, there he lies, the yet +warm breast on the frozen ground, to be lifted up not without a passing +pity and admiration. The brown feathers are exquisitely shaded, and so +exactly resemble the hue of the rough dead aquatic grass out of which he +sprang that if you cast the bird among it you will have some trouble to +find it again. To discover a living snipe on the ground is indeed a test +of good eyesight; for as he slips in and out among the brown withered +flags and the grey grass it requires not only a quick eye but the inbred +sportsman's instinct of perception (if such a phrase is permissible) to +mark him out. + +If your shot has missed and merely splashed up the water or rattled +against bare branches, then step swiftly behind a tree-trunk, and stay +in ambuscade, keeping a sharp watch on him as he circles round high up +in the air. Very often in a few minutes he will come back in a wide +sweep, and drop scarcely a gun-shot distant in the same watercourse, +when a second shot may be obtained. The little jack snipe, when flushed, +will never fly far, if shot at several times in succession, still +settling fifty or sixty yards farther on, and is easily bagged. + +Coming silently as possible round a corner, treading gently on the grass +still white with hoar-frost in the shadow of the bushes, you may chance +to spring a stray woodcock, which bird, if you lose a moment, will put +the hedge between him and you. Artists used to seek for certain feathers +which he carries, one in each wing, thinking to make of them a more +delicate brush than the finest camel's hair. + +In the evening I used to hide in the osier-beds on the edge of a great +water-meadow; for now that the marshes are drained, and the black earth +of the fens yields a harvest of yellow corn, the broad level meads which +are irrigated to fertilise them are among the chief inland resorts of +wild fowl. When the bright moon is rising, you walk in among the +tapering osier-wands, the rustling sedges, and dead dry hemlock stems, +and wait behind an aspen tree. + +In the thick blackthorn bush a round dark ball indicates the blackbird, +who has puffed out his feathers to shield him from the frost, and who +will sit so close and quiet that you may see the moonlight glitter on +his eye. Presently comes a whistling noise of wings, and a loud 'quack, +quack!' as a string of ducks, their long necks stretched out, pass over +not twenty yards high, slowly slanting downwards to the water. This is +the favourable moment for the gun, because their big bodies are well +defined against the sky, and aim can be taken; but to shoot anything on +the ground at night, even a rabbit, whose white tail as he hops away is +fairly visible, is most difficult. + +The baffling shadows and the moonbeams on the barrel, and the faint +reflection from the dew or hoar-frost on the grass, prevent more than a +general direction being given to the gun, even with the tiny piece of +white paper which some affix to the muzzle-sight as a guide. From a punt +with a swivel gun it is different, because the game is swimming and +visible as black dots on the surface, and half a pound of shot is sure +to hit something. But in the water-meadows the ducks get among the +grass, and the larger water-carriers where they can swim usually have +small raised banks, so that at a distance only the heads of the birds +appear above them. + +So that the best time to shoot a duck is just as he slopes down to +settle--first, because he is distinctly visible against the sky; next, +because he is within easy range; and lastly, his flight is steady. If +you attempt to have ducks driven towards you, though they may go right +overhead, yet it will often be too high--for they rise at a sharp angle +when frightened; and men who are excellent judges of distance when it is +a hare running across the fallow, find themselves all at fault trying to +shoot at any elevation. Perhaps this arises from the peculiarity of the +human eye which draughtsmen are fond of illustrating by asking a tyro to +correctly bisect a vertical line: a thing that looks easy, and is really +only to be done by long practice. + +To make certain of selecting the right spot in the osiers over which the +ducks will pass, for one or two evenings previously a look-out should be +kept and their usual course observed; for all birds and animals, even +the wildest wild fowl, are creatures of habit and custom, and having +once followed a particular path will continue to use it until seriously +disturbed. Evening after evening the ducks will rise above the horizon +at the same place and almost at the same time, and fly straight to their +favourite feeding place. + +If hit, the mallard falls with a thud on the earth, for he is a heavy +bird; and few are more worthy of powder and shot either for his savoury +flavour, far surpassing the tame duck, or the beauty of his burnished +neck. With the ducks come teal and widgeon and moorhen, till the swampy +meadow resounds with their strange cries. When ponds and lakes are +frozen hard is the best time for sport in these irrigated fields. All +day long the ducks will stand or waddle to and fro on the ice in the +centre of the lake or mere, far out of reach and ready to rise at the +slightest alarm. But at night they seek the meadow where the water, +running swiftly in the carriers, never entirely freezes, and where, if +the shallow spots become ice, the rising current flows over it and +floods another place. + +There is, moreover, never any difficulty in getting the game when hit, +because the water, except in the main carriers, which you can leap +across, hardly rises to the ankle, and ordinary water-tight boots will +enable you to wade wherever necessary. This is a great advantage with +wild fowl, which are sometimes shot and lost in deep ooze and strong +currents and eddies, and on thin ice where men cannot go and even good +dogs are puzzled. + + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + + +FERRETING: A RABBIT-HUNTER + + +The ferreting season commences when the frosts have caused the leaves to +drop, and the rabbits grow fat from feeding on bark. Early one December +morning, Orion and I started, with our man Little John, to ferret a +double-mound for our old friend Farmer 'Willum' at Redcote. + +Little John was a labourer--one of those frequently working at odd times +for Luke, the Rabbit-Contractor. We had nicknamed him Little John +because of his great size and unwieldy proportions. He was the most +useful man we knew for such work; his heart was so thoroughly in it. + +He was waiting for us before we had finished breakfast, with his tools +and implements, having carefully prepared these while yet it was dark at +home in his cottage. The nets require looking to before starting, as +they are apt to get into a tangle, and there is nothing so annoying as +to have to unravel strings with chilled fingers in a ditch. Some have to +be mended, having been torn; some are cast aside altogether because weak +and rotten. The twine having been frequently saturated with water has +decayed. All the nets are of a light yellow colour from the clay and +sand that has worked into the string. + +These nets almost filled a sack, into which he also cast a pair of +'owl-catchers,' gloves of stout white leather, thick enough to turn a +thorn while handling bushes, or to withstand the claws of an owl +furiously resisting capture. His ferrets cost him much thought, which to +take and which to leave behind. He had also to be particular how he fed +them--they must be eager for prey, and yet they must not be starved, +else they would gorge on the blood of the first rabbit, and become +useless for hunting. + +Two had to be muzzled--an operation of some difficulty that generally +results in a scratched hand. A small piece of small but strong twine is +passed through the jaws behind the tusk-like teeth, and tightly tied +round, so tightly as almost to cut into the skin. This is the old way of +muzzling a ferret, handed down from generations: Little John scorns the +muzzles that can be bought at shops, and still more despises the tiny +bells to hang round the neck. The first he says often come off, and the +second embarrass the ferret and sometimes catch in projecting rootlets +and hold it fast. He has, too, a line--many yards of stout twine wound +about a short stick--to line a ferret if necessary. + +The ferrets are placed in a smaller bag, tightly tied at the top--for +they will work through and get out if any aperture be left. Inside the +bag is a little hay for them to lay on. He prefers the fitchew ferret as +he calls it; that is the sort that are coloured like a polecat. He says +they are fiercer, larger of make and more powerful. But he has also a +couple of white ones with pink eyes. Besides the sack of nets, the bag +of ferrets, and a small bundle in a knotted handkerchief--his +'nuncheon'--which in themselves make a tolerable load, he has brought a +billhook, and a 'navigator,' or draining-tool. + +This is a narrow spade of specially stout make; the blade is hollow and +resembles an exaggerated gouge, and the advantage is that in digging out +a rabbit the tool is very apt to catch under a root, when an ordinary +spade may bend and become useless. The 'navigator' will stand anything, +and being narrow is also more handy. All these implements Little John +has prepared by the dim light of a horn lantern in the shed at the back +of his cottage. A mug of ale while we get our guns greatly cheers him, +and unlooses his tongue. + +All the way to Redcote he impresses on us the absolute necessity of +silence while ferreting, and congratulates us on having a nearly still +day. He is a little doubtful about Orion's spaniel and whether it will +keep quiet or not. + +When we reach the double-mound, his talk entirely ceases: he is as +silent and as rugged as a pollard oak. By the top of the mound the sack +of nets is thrown down on the sward and opened. As there are more holes +on the other side of the hedge Orion goes over with Little John, and I +proceed to set up the nets on mine. + +I found some difficulty in getting at the bank, the bushes being so +thick, and had to use the billhook and chop a way in: I heard Little +John growling about this in a whisper to Orion. Very often before going +with the ferrets, people send a man or two a few hours previously to +chop and clear the bushes. The effect is that the rabbits will not bolt +freely. They hear the men chopping, and the vibration of the earth as +they clumsily climb over the banks, and will not come out till +absolutely forced. If it is done at all, it should be done a week +beforehand. That was why Little John grumbled at my chopping though he +knew it was necessary. + +To set up a rabbit net you must arrange it so that it covers the whole +of the mouth of the hole, for if there is any opening between it and the +bank the rabbit will slip through. He will not face the net unless +obliged to. Along the upper part, if the bank is steep, so that the net +will not lie on it of itself, two or three little twigs should be thrust +through the meshes into the earth to suspend it. + +These twigs should be no larger than are used by birds in constructing +their nests; just strong enough to hold the net in place and no more. On +the other hand, care must be taken that no stout projecting root catches +a corner of the net, else it will not draw up properly and the rabbit +will escape. + +Little John, not satisfied with my assurance that I had netted all the +holes my side, now came over--crawling on hands and knees that he might +not jar the bank--to examine for himself. His practised eye detected two +holes that I had missed: one on the top of the mound much overhung by +dead grass, and one under a stole. These he attended to. He then crawled +up on the mound two or three yards below the end of the bury, and with +his own hands stretched a larger net right across the top of the bank, +so that if a rabbit did escape he would run into this. To be still more +sure he stretched another similar net across the whole width of the +mound at the other end of the bury. + +He then undid the mouth of the ferret-bag, holding it between his +knees--the ferrets immediately attempted to struggle out: he selected +two and then tied it up again. With both these in his own hands, for he +would trust nothing to another, he slipped quietly back to Orion's side, +and so soon as he saw I was standing well back placed them in different +holes. + +Almost the next instant one came out my side disarranging a net. I got +into the ditch, hastily reset the net, and put the ferret to an adjacent +hole, lifting up the corner of the net there for it to creep in. Unlike +the weasel, a ferret once outside a hole seems at a loss, and wanders +slowly about, till chance brings him to a second. The weasel used to +hunting is no sooner out of one hole than he darts away to the next. But +this power the ferret has partially lost from confinement. + +For a moment the ferret hesitated inside the hole, as if undecided which +of two passages to take: then he started, and I lost sight of his tail. +Hardly had I got back to my stand than I heard Little John leap into the +ditch his side: the next minute I saw the body of the rabbit which he +had killed thrown out into the field. + +I stood behind a somewhat advanced bush that came out into the meadow +like a buttress, and kept an eye on the holes along the bank. It is +essential to stand well back from the holes, and, if possible, out of +sight. In a few moments something moved, and I saw the head of a rabbit +at the mouth of a hole just behind the net. He looked through the meshes +as through a lattice, and I could see his nostrils work, as he +considered within himself how to pass this thing. It was but for a +moment; the ferret came behind, and wild with hereditary fear, the +rabbit leaped into the net. + +The force of the spring not only drew the net together, but dragged out +the peg, and rabbit and net inextricably entangled rolled down the bank +to the bottom of the ditch. I jumped into the ditch and seized the net; +when there came a hoarse whisper: 'Look sharp you, measter: put up +another net fust--_he_ can't get out; hould un under your arm, _or in +your teeth_.' + +I looked up, and saw Little John's face peering over the mound. He had +thrust himself up under the bushes; his hat was off; his weather-beaten +face bleeding from a briar, but he could not feel the scratch so anxious +was he that nothing should escape. I pulled another net from my pocket, +and spread it roughly over the hole; then more slowly took the rabbit +from the other net. + +You should never hold a rabbit up till you have got fast hold of his +hind legs; he will so twist and work himself as to get free from any +other grasp. But when held by the hind legs and lifted from the ground +he can do nothing. I now returned to my buttress of bushes and waited. +The rabbits did not bolt my side again for a while. Every now and then I +saw, or heard, Orion or Little John leap into their ditch, and well knew +what it meant before the dead rabbit was cast out to fall with a +helpless thud upon the sward. + +Once I saw a rabbit's head at the mouth of a hole, and momentarily +expected him to dart forth driven by the same panic fear. But either the +ferret passed, or there was another side-tunnel--the rabbit went back. +Some few minutes afterwards Little John exclaimed: 'Look out, you; +ferret's out!' One of the ferrets had come out of a hole and was +aimlessly--as it appeared--roaming along the bank. + +As he came nearest my side, I got quietly into the ditch and seized him, +and put him into a hole. To my surprise he refused to go in--I pushed +him: he returned and continued to try to come out till I gave him a +sharp fillip with the finger, when he shook the dust and particles of +dry earth from his fur with a shiver, as if in protest, and slowly +disappeared inside the hole. + +As I was creeping out of the deep ditch on hands and knees, I heard +Orion call angrily to the spaniel to come to heel. Hitherto the spaniel +had sat on his haunches behind Orion fairly quiet and still, though not +without an occasional restless movement. But now he broke suddenly from +all control, and disregarding Orion's anger--though with hanging +tail--rushed into the hedge, and along the top of the mound where there +was a thick mass of dead grass. Little John hurled a clod of clay at +him, but before I was quite out of the ditch the spaniel gave tongue, +and at the same moment I saw a rabbit come from the ditch and run like +mad across the field. + +The dog gave chase--I rushed for my gun, which was some yards off, +placed against a hollow withy tree. The haste disconcerted the aim--the +rabbit too was almost fifty yards away when I fired. But the shot broke +one hind leg--it trailed behind--and the spaniel had him instantly. +'Look at yer nets,' said Little John in a tone of suppressed +indignation, for he disliked the noise of a gun, as all other noises. + +I did look, and found that one net had been partly pushed aside; yet to +so small an extent that I should hardly have believed it possible for +the rabbit to have crept through. He must have slipped out without the +slightest sound and quietly got on the top of the mound without being +seen. But there, alas! he found a wide net stretched right across the +bank so that to slip down the mound on the top was impossible. This +would certainly have been his course had not the net been there. + +It was now doubtless that the spaniel caught wind of him, and the scent +was so strong that it overcame his obedience. The moment the dog got on +the bank, the rabbit slipped down into the rushes in the ditch--I did +not see him because my back was turned in the act to scramble out. Then, +directly the spaniel gave tongue the rabbit darted for the open, hoping +to reach the buries in the hedge on the opposite side of the meadow. + +This incident explained why the ferret seemed so loth to go back into +the hole. He had crept out some few moments behind the rabbit and in his +aimless uncertain manner was trying to follow the scent along the bank. +He did not like being compelled to give up this scent and to search +again for another. 'Us must be main careful how us fixes our nets, you,' +said Little John, going as far as he could in reproof of my negligence. + +The noise of the gun, the barking, and talking was of course heard by +the rabbits still in the bury, and as if to show that Little John was +right, for a while they ceased to bolt. Standing behind the +bushes--against which I now placed the gun to be nearer at hand--I +watched the nets till my eye was caught by the motions of the +ferret-bag. It lay on the grass and had hitherto been inert. But now the +bag reared itself up, and then rolled over, to again rise and again +tumble. The ferrets left in it in reserve were eager to get out--sharp +set on account of a scanty breakfast--and their motions caused the bag +to roll along a short distance. + +I could see Orion on the other side of the mound tolerably well because +he was standing up and the leaves had fallen from the upper part of the +bushes. Little John was crouched in the ditch: the dead grasses, +'gicks,' withered vines of bryony, the thistles, and dark shrivelled +fern concealed him. + +There was a round black sloe on the blackthorn beside me, the beautiful +gloss, or bloom, on it made it look like a tiny plum. It tasted not only +sour, but seemed to positively fill the mouth with a rough acid. +Overhead light grey clouds, closely packed but not rainy, drifted very +slowly before a N.E. upper current. Occasionally a brief puff of wind +came through the bushes rustling the dead leaves that still remained on +the oaks. + +Despite the cold, something of Little John's intense concentration +communicated itself to us: we waited and watched with eager patience. +After a while he got out of the ditch where he had been listening with +his ear close against the bank, and asked me to pass him the ferret-bag. +He took out another ferret and lined it--that is, attached one end of a +long string to its neck, and then sent it in. + +He watched which way the ferret turned, and then again placed his head +upon the hard clay to listen. Orion had to come and hold the line, while +he went two or three yards farther down, got into the ditch and once +more listened carefully. 'He be about the middle of the mound you,' he +said to me; he be between you and I. Lor! look out.' + +There was a low rumbling sound--I expected to see a rabbit bolt into one +of my nets, I heard Little John moving some leaves, and then he shouted, +'Give I a net, you--quick. Lor! here be another hole: he's coming!' I +looked over the mound and saw Little John, his teeth set and staring at +a hole which had no net, his great hands open ready to pounce instantly +like some wild animal on its prey. In an instant the rabbit bolted--he +clutched it and clasped it tight to his chest. There was a moment of +struggling, the next the rabbit was held up for a moment and then cast +across his knee. + +It was always a sight to see Little John's keen delight in 'wristing' +their necks. He affected utter unconsciousness of what he was doing, +looked you in the face, and spoke about some indifferent subject. But +all the while he was feeling the rabbit's muscles stretch before the +terrible grasp of his hands, and an expression of complacent +satisfaction flitted over his features as the neck gave with a sudden +looseness, and in a moment what had been a living straining creature +became limp. + +The ferret came out after the rabbit; he immediately caught it and +thrust it into his pocket. There were still two ferrets in--one that was +suspected to be gorging on a rabbit in a _cul de sac_, and the other +lined, and which had gone to join that sanguinary feast. The use of the +line was to trace where the loose ferret lay. 'Chuck I the show'l, +measter,' said Little John. + +I gave the 'navigator' tool a heave over the hedge; it fell and stuck +upright in the sward. Orion handed it to him. He first filled up the +hole from which a rabbit had just bolted with a couple of 'spits,' +_i.e._ spadefuls, and then began to dig on the top of the mound. + +This digging was very tedious. The roots of the thorn bushes and trees +constantly impeded it, and had to be cut. Then upon at last getting down +to the hole, it was found that the right place had not been hit by +several feet. Here was the line and the lined ferret--he had got hitched +in a projecting root, and was furiously struggling to go forward to the +feast of blood. + +Another spell of digging--this time still slower because Little John was +afraid lest the edge of his tool should suddenly slip through and cut +his ferret on the head, and perhaps kill it. At last the place was +reached and the ferret drawn forth still clinging to its victim. The +rabbit was almost beyond recognition as a rabbit. The poor creature had +been stopped by a _cul de sac_, and the ferret came upon him from +behind. + +As the hole was small the rabbit's body completely filled it, and the +ferret could not scramble past to get at the spot behind the ear where +it usually seizes. The ferret had therefore deliberately gnawn away the +hindquarters and so bored a passage. The ferret being so gorged was +useless for further hunting and was replaced in the bag. But Little John +gave him a drink of water first from the bottom of the ditch. + +Orion and I, wearied with the digging, now insisted on removing to the +next bury, for we felt sure that the remaining rabbits in this one would +not bolt. Little John had no choice but to comply, but he did so with +much reluctance and many rueful glances back at the holes from which he +took the nets. He was sure, he said, that there were at least +half-a-dozen still in the bury: he only wished he might have all that he +could get out of it. But we imperiously ordered a removal. + +We went some thirty yards down the mound, passing many smaller buries, +and chose a spot perfectly drilled with holes. While Little John was in +the ditch putting up nets, we slily undid the ferret-bag and turned +three ferrets at once loose into the holes. 'Lor! measter, measter, what +be you at?' cried Little John, quite beside himself. 'You'll spoil all +on it. Lor!' + +A sharp report as Orion fired at a rabbit that bolted almost under +Little John's fingers drowned his remonstrances, and he had to scramble +out of the way quick. Bang! bang! right and left: the firing became +rapid. There being no nets to alarm the rabbits and three ferrets +hunting them, they tumbled out in all directions as fast as we could +load. Now the cartridges struck branches and shattered them. Now the +shot flattened itself against sarsen stones imbedded in the mound. The +rabbits had scarce a yard to bolt from one hole to another, so that it +was sharp work. + +Little John now gave up all hope, and only pleaded piteously for his +ferrets. 'Mind as you doan't hit 'em, measter; doant'ee shoot into a +hole, you.' For half an hour we had some really good shooting: then it +began to slacken, and we told him to catch his ferrets and go on to the +next bury. I am not sure that he would not have rebelled outright but +just then a boy came up carrying a basket of provisions, and a large +earthenware jar with a bung cork, full of humming ale. Farmer Willum had +sent this, and the strong liquor quite restored Little John's good +humour. It really was ale--such as is not to be got for money. + +The boy said that he had seen Farmer Willum's hereditary enemy, the +keeper, watching us from his side of the boundary, doubtless attracted +by the sound of the firing. He said also that there was a pheasant in a +little copse beside the brook. We sent him out again to reconnoitre: he +returned and repeated that the keeper had gone, and that he thought he +saw him enter the distant fir plantations. So we left the boy to help +Little John at the next bury--a commission that made him grin with +delight, and suited the other very well, since the noisy guns were going +away, and he could use his nets. + +We took the lined ferret with us, and started after the pheasant. Just +as we approached the copse, the spaniel gave tongue on the other side of +the hedge. Orion had tied him up to a bush, wishing to leave him with +Little John. But the spaniel tore and twisted till he got loose and had +followed us--keeping out of sight--till now crossing the scent of a +rabbit he set up his bark. We called him to heel, and I am afraid he got +a kick. But the pheasant was alarmed, and rose before we could properly +enfilade the little copse, where we should most certainly have had him. +He flew high and straight for the fir plantations, where it was useless +to follow. + +However, we leaped the brook and entered the keeper's territory under +shelter of a thick double-mound. We slipped the lined ferret into a +small bury, and succeeded in knocking over a couple of rabbits. The +object of using the lined ferret was because we could easily recover it. +This was pure mischief, for there were scores of rabbits on our own +side. But then there was just a little spice of risk in this, and we +knew Willum would gloat over it. + +After firing these two shots we got back again as speedily as possible, +and once more assisted Little John. We could not, however, quite resist +the pleasure of shooting a rabbit occasionally and so tormenting him. We +left one hole each side without a net, and insisted on the removal of +the net that stretched across the top of the bank. This gave us a shot +now and then, and the removal of the cross net allowed the rabbit some +little law. + +Notwithstanding these drawbacks--to him--Little John succeeded in making +a good bag. He stayed till it was quite dark to dig out a ferret that +had killed a rabbit in the hole. He took his money for his day's work +with indifference: but when we presented him with two couple of clean +rabbits his gratitude was too much for him to express. The gnawn and +'blown' rabbits [by shot] were his perquisite, the clean rabbits an +unexpected gift. It was not their monetary value; it was the fact that +they were rabbits. + +The man's instinct for hunting was so strong that it seemed to overcome +everything else. He would walk miles--after a long day's farm work--just +to help old Luke, the rabbit contractor, bring home the rabbits in the +evening from the Upper Woods. He worked regularly for one farmer, and +did his work well: he was a sober man too as men go, that is he did not +get drunk more than once a month. A strong man must drink now and then: +but he was not a sot, and took nine-tenths of his money faithfully home +to his wife and children. + +In the winter when farm work is not so pressing he was allowed a week +off now and then, which he spent in ferreting for the farmers, and +sometimes for Luke, and of course he was only too glad to get such an +engagement as we gave him. Sometimes he made a good thing of his +ferreting: sometimes when the weather was bad it was a failure. But +although a few shillings were of consequence to him, it really did not +seem to be the money-value but the sport that he loved. To him that +sport was all-absorbing. + +His ferrets were well looked after, and he sometimes sold one for a good +price to keepers. As a rule a man who keeps ferrets is suspected: but +Little John was too well understood, and he had no difficulty in begging +a little milk for them. + +His tenacity in pursuit of a rabbit was always a source of wonder to me. +In rain, in wind, in frost; his feet up to the ankle in the ice-cold +slush at the bottom of a ditch: no matter what the weather or how rough, +he patiently stood to his nets. I have known him stand the whole day +long in a snowstorm--the snow on the ground and in the holes, the flakes +drifting against his face--and never once show impatience. All he +disliked was wind--not on account of discomfort, but because the +creaking of the branches and the howling of the blast made such a noise +that it was impossible to tell where the rabbit would bolt. + +He congratulated himself that evening because he had recovered all his +ferrets. Sometimes one will lie in and defy all efforts to bring it out. +One plan is to place a dead fresh rabbit at the mouth of the hole which +may tempt the ferret to come and seize it. In large woods there are +generally one or more ferrets wandering loose in the season, that have +escaped from the keepers or poachers. + +If the keeper sees one he tries to catch it; failing that, he puts a +charge of shot into it. Some keepers think nothing of shooting their own +ferrets if they will not come when called by the chirrup with the lips, +or displease them in other ways. They do not care, because they can have +as many as they like. Little John made pets of his: they obeyed him very +well as a rule. + +Poaching men are sometimes charged with stealing ferrets, _i.e._ with +picking up and carrying off those that keepers have lost. A ferret is, +however, a difficult thing to identify and swear to. + +Those who go poaching with ferrets choose a moonlight night: if it is +dark it is difficult to find the holes. Small buries are best because so +much more easily managed, and the ferret is usually lined. If a large +bury is attempted, they take the first half-dozen that bolt and then +move on to another. The first rabbits come out rapidly; the rest linger +as if warned by the fate of their companions. Instead of wasting time +over them it is best to move to another place. + +Unless a keeper should chance to pass up the hedgerow there is +comparatively little risk, for the men are in the ditch and invisible +ten yards away under the bushes and make no noise. It is more difficult +to get home with the game: but it is managed. Very small buries with not +more than four or five holes may be ferreted even on the darkest nights +by carefully observing beforehand where the holes are situate. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + + +A WINTER NIGHT: OLD TRICKS: PHEASANT-STALKING: MATCHLOCK _versus_ +BREECH-LOADER: CONCLUSION + + +When the moon is full and nearly at the zenith it seems to move so +slowly that the shadows scarcely change their position. In winter, when +the branches are bare, a light that is nearly vertical over a tree can +cast but little shadow, and that falls immediately around the trunk. So +that the smallness of the shadow itself and the slowness of its motion +together tend to conceal it. + +The snow on the ground increases the sense of light, and in approaching +the wood the scene is even more distinct than during the gloomy day. The +tips of the short stubble that has not yet been ploughed in places just +protrude above the surface, and the snow, frozen hard, crunches with a +low sound under foot. But for that all is perfectly still. The level +upland cornfields stretch away white and vacant to the hills--white, +too, and clear against the sky. The plain is silent, and nothing that +can be seen moves upon its surface. + +On the verge of the wood which occupies the sloping ground there stands +a great oak tree, and down one side of its trunk is a narrow white +streak of snow. Leaning against the oak and looking upwards, every +branch and twig is visible, lit up by the moon. Overhead the stars are +dimmed, but they shine more brightly yonder above the hills. Such leaves +as have not yet fallen hang motionless: those that are lying on the +ground are covered by the snow, and thus held fast from rustling even +were the wind to blow. But there is not the least breath--a great frost +is always quiet, profoundly quiet--and the silence is undisturbed even +by the fall of a leaf. The frost that kills them holds the leaves till +it melts, and then they drop. + +The tall ash poles behind in the wood stand stark and straight, pointing +upwards, and it is possible to see for some distance between them. No +lesser bats flit to and fro outside the fence under the branches; no +larger ones pass above the tops _of_ the trees. There seems, indeed, a +total absence of life. The pheasants are at roost in the warmer covers; +and the woodpigeons are also perched--some in the detached oaks of the +hedgerows, particularly those that are thickly grown with ivy about the +upper branches. Up in the great beeches the rooks are still and silent; +sometimes the boughs are encrusted with rime about their very claws. + +Leaving the oak now and skirting the wood, after a while the meadows on +the lower ground are reached; and here perhaps the slight scampering +sound of a rabbit may be heard. But as they can see and hear you so far +in the bright light and silence, they will most likely be gone before +you can get near. They are restless--very restless; first because of the +snow, and next because of the moonlight. The hares, unable to find +anything on the hills or the level white plain above, have come down +here and search along the sheltered hedgerows for leaf and blade. +To-night the rabbits will run almost like the hares, to and fro, hither +and thither. + +In the thickest hawthorns the blackbirds and lesser feathered creatures +are roosting, preferring the hedgerow to the more open wood. Some of the +lesser birds have crept into the ivy around the elms, and which crowns +the tops of the withy pollards. Wrens and sparrows have gone to the +hayricks, roosting in little holes in the sides under the slightly +projecting thatch. They have taken refuge too in the nest-holes made in +the thatched eaves of the sheds: tits are there also; and sometimes two +or three of the latter are captured at once in such holes. + +A dark line across the lower meadows marks the course of the brook; it +is dark because the snow falling on the water melted. Even now there is +a narrow stream unfrozen; though the banks against which it chafes are +hard, and will not take the impression of the moorhen's foot. The +water-rats that in summertime played and fed along the margin among the +flags are rarely seen in winter. In walking in daylight by the brook now +their plunge into the water will not be heard, nor can they be seen +travelling at the bottom. + +They lay up a store of food in a hole away from the stream, generally +choosing the banks or higher ground in the withy-beds--places that are +not often flooded. Their ordinary holes, which are half, and sometimes +quite, under water, will not do for winter; they would be frozen in +them, and perhaps their store of food would be spoiled; besides which +the floods cause the stream to rise above its banks, and they could not +exist under water for weeks together. + +Still further down, where the wood ends in scattered bushes and +withy-beds, the level shore of the shallow mere succeeds. The once soft, +oozy ground is now firm; the rushes are frozen stiff, and the ice for +some distance out is darkened by the aquatic weeds frozen in it. From +here the wood, rising up the slope, comes into view at once--the dark +trees, the ash poles, the distant beeches, the white crest of the +hill--all still and calm under the moonlight. The level white plain of +ice behind stretches away, its real extent concealed by the islands of +withy and the dark pines along the distant shore; while elsewhere the +ice is not distinguishable from the almost equally level fields that +join it. Looking now more closely on the snow, the tracks of hares and +rabbits that have crossed and recrossed the ice are visible. + +In passing close to the withy-beds to return to the wood some branches +have to be pushed aside and cause a slight noise. Immediately a crowd of +birds rise out of the withies, where they have been roosting, and +scatter into the night. They are redwings and thrushes; every withy-bed +is full of them. After wheeling about in the air they will presently +return--first one, then three or four, and finally the flock, to their +roosting-place. + +It is easy now to walk through the wood without making a noise: there is +room to pass between the stoles of ash; and the dead sticks that would +have cracked under foot are covered with snow. But be careful how you +step; for in some places the snow has fallen upon a mass of leaves +filling a swampy hollow. Above there is a thin crust of snow, but under +the leaves the oozy ground is still soft. + +Upon the dark pines the snow has lodged, making the boughs bend +downwards. Where the slope becomes a hill the ash stoles and nut-tree +bushes are far apart and thinner, so that there are wide white spaces +around them. Regaining now the top of the hill where the plain comes to +the verge of the wood, there is a clear view down across the ash poles +to the withies, the white mere, and the meadows below. Everywhere +silence, stillness, sleep. + +In the high trees slumbering creatures; in the hedgerows, in the bushes, +and the withies birds with feathers puffed out, slumbering; in the +banks, under the very ground, dormant animals. A quiet cold that at +first does not seem cold because it is so quiet, but which gradually +seizes on and stills the sap of plants and the blood of living things. A +ruthless frost, still, subtle, and irresistible, that will slay the bird +on its perch and weaken the swift hare. + +The most cruel of all things this snow and frost, because of the torture +of hunger which the birds must feel even in their sleep. But how +beautiful the round full moon, the brilliant light, the white landscape, +the graceful lines of the pine brought out by the snow, the hills +yonder, and the stars rising above them! + +It was on just such a night as this that some years since a most +successful raid was made upon this wood by a band of poachers coming +from a distance. The pheasants had been kept later than usual to be shot +by a Christmas party, and perhaps this had caused a relaxation of +vigilance. The band came in a cart of some kind; the marks of the wheels +were found on the snow where it had been driven off the highway and +across a field to some ricks. There, no doubt, the horse and cart were +kept out of sight behind the ricks, while the men, who were believed to +have worn smock-frocks, entered the wood. + +The bright moonlight made it easy to find the pheasants, and they were +potted in plenty. Finding that there was no opposition, the gang crossed +from the wood to some outlying plantations and continued their work +there. The keeper never heard a sound. He was an old man--a man who had +been on the estate all his life--and had come in late in the evening +after a long round. He sat by the fire of split logs and enjoyed the +warmth after the bitter cold and frost; and, as he himself confessed, +took an extra glass in consideration of the severity of the weather. + +His wife was old and deaf. Neither of them heard the guns nor the dogs. +Those in the kennels close to the cottage, and very likely one or more +indoors, must have barked at the noise of the shooting. But if any dim +sense of the uproar did reach the keeper's ear he put it down to the +moon, at which dogs will bay. As for his assistants, they had quietly +gone home, so soon as they felt sure that the keeper was housed for the +night. Long immunity from attack had bred over-confidence; the staff +also was too small for the extent of the place, and this had doubtless +become known. No one sleeps so soundly as an agricultural labourer; and +as the nearest hamlet was at some distance it is not surprising that +they did not wake. + +In the early morning a fogger going to fodder his cattle came across a +pheasant lying dead on the path, the snow stained with its blood. He +picked it up, and put it under his smock-frock, and carried it to the +pen, where he hid it under some litter, intending to take it home. But +afterwards, as he crossed the fields towards the farm, he passed near +the wood and observed the tracks of many feet and a gap in the fence. He +looked through the gap and saw that the track went into the preserves. +On second thoughts he went back for the pheasant and took it to his +master. + +The farmer, who was sitting down to table, quietly ate his breakfast, +and then strolled over to the keeper's cottage with the bird. This was +the first intimation: the keeper could hardly believe it, till he +himself went down and followed the trail of foot-marks. There was not +the least difficulty in tracing the course of the poachers through the +wood; the feathers were lying about; the scorched paper (for they used +muzzle-loaders), broken boughs, and shot-marks were all too plain. But +by this time the gang were well away, and none were captured or +identified. + +The extreme severity of the frost naturally caused people to stay +indoors, so that no one noticed the cart going through the village; nor +could the track of its wheels be discerned from others on the snow of +the highway beaten down firm. Even had the poachers been disturbed, it +is doubtful if so small a staff of keepers could have done anything to +stop them. As it was, they not only made a good haul--the largest made +for years in that locality--but quite spoiled the shooting. + +There are no white figures passing through the peaceful wood to-night +and firing up into the trees. It is perfectly still. The broad moon +moves slow, and the bright rays light up tree and bush, so that it is +easy to see through, except where the brambles retain their leaves and +are fringed with the dead ferns. + +The poaching of the present day is carried on with a few appliances +only. An old-fashioned poacher could employ a variety of 'engines,' but +the modern has scarcely any choice. There was, for instance, a very +effective mode of setting a wire with a springe or bow. A stout stick +was thrust into the ground, and then bent over into an arch. When the +wire was thrown it instantly released the springe, which sprang up and +drew it fast round the neck of the hare or rabbit, whose fore feet were +lifted from the earth. Sometimes a growing sapling was bent down for the +bow if it chanced to stand conveniently near a run. The hare no sooner +put her head into the noose than she was suspended and strangled. + +I tried the springe several times for rabbits, and found it answer; but +the poacher cannot use it because it is so conspicuous. The stick +itself, rising above the grass, is visible at some distance, and when +thrown it holds the hare or rabbit up for any one to see that passes by. +With a wire set in the present manner the captured animal lies extended, +and often rolls into a furrow and is further hidden. + +The springe was probably last employed by the mole-catchers. Their +wooden traps were in the shape of a small tunnel, with a wire in the +middle which, when the mole passed through, set free a bent stick. This +stick pulled the wire and hung the mole. Such mole-catchers' bows or +springes used to be seen in every meadow, but are now superseded by the +iron trap. + +Springes with horsehair nooses on the ground were also set for woodcocks +and for wild ducks. It is said that a springe of somewhat similar +construction was used for pheasants. Horsehair nooses are still applied +for capturing woodpeckers and the owls that spend the day in hollow +trees, being set round the hole by which they leave the tree. A more +delicate horsehair noose is sometimes set for finches and small birds. I +tried it for bullfinches, but did not succeed from lack of the dexterity +required. The modes of using bird-lime were numerous, and many of them +are in use for taking song-birds. + +But the enclosure of open lands, the strict definition of footpaths, +closer cultivation, and the increased value of game have so checked the +poacher's operations with nets that in many districts the net may be +said to be extinct. It is no longer necessary to bush the stubbles +immediately after reaping. Brambles are said to have been the best for +hindering the net, which frequently swept away an entire covey, old +birds and young together. Stubbles are now so short that no birds will +lie in them, and the net would not be successful there if it were tried. + +The net used to be so favourite an 'engine' because partridges and +pheasants will run rather than fly. In the case of partridges the +poacher had first to ascertain the haunt of the covey, which he could do +by looking for where they roost at night: the spot is often worn almost +bare of grass and easily found. Or he could listen in the evening for +the calling of the birds as they run together. The net being set, he +walked very slowly down the wind towards the covey. It could not be done +too quietly or gently, because if one got up all the rest would +immediately take wing; for partridges act in concert. If he took his +time and let them run in front of him he secured the whole number. That +was the principle; but the nets were of many kinds: the partridges were +sometimes driven in by a dog. The partridges that appear in the market +on the morning of the 1st of September are said to be netted, though +probably by those who have a right to do so. These birds by nature lend +themselves to such tricks, being so timid. It is said that if +continually driven to and fro they will at last cower, and can be taken +by hand or knocked over with a stick. + +The sight of a paper kite in the air makes them motionless till forced +to rise; and there was an old dodge of ringing a bell at night, which so +alarmed the covey that they remained still till the net was ready, when +a sudden flash of light drove them into it. Imagine a poacher ringing a +bell nowadays! Then, partridges were peculiarly liable to be taken; now, +perhaps, they escape better than any other kind of game. Except with a +gun the poacher can hardly touch them, and after the coveys have been +broken up it is not worth his while to risk a shot very often. If only +their eggs could be protected there should be little difficulty with +partridges. + +Pheasants are more individual in their ways, and act less together; but +they have the same habit of running instead of flying, and if a poacher +did but dare he could take them with nets as easily as possible. They +form runs through the woods--just as fowls will wander day after day +down a hedge, till they have made quite a path. So that, having found +the run and knowing the position of the birds, the rest is simplicity +itself. The net being stretched, the pheasants were driven in. A cur dog +was sometimes sent round to disturb the birds. Being a cur, he did not +bark, for which reason a strain of cur is preferred to this day by the +mouchers who keep dogs. Now that the woods are regularly watched such a +plan has become impracticable. It might indeed be done once, but surely +not twice where competent keepers were about. + +Nets were also used for hares and rabbits, which were driven in by a +dog; but, the scent of these animals being so good, it was necessary to +work in such a manner that the wind might not blow from the net, meeting +them as they approached it. Pheasants, as every one knows, roost on +trees, but often do not ascend very high; and, indeed, before the leaves +are off they are said to be sometimes taken by hand--sliding it along +the bough till the legs are grasped, just as you might fowls perched at +night on a rail across the beams of a shed. + +The spot where they roost is easily found out, because of the peculiar +noise they make upon flying up; and with a little precaution the trees +may be approached without startling them. Years ago the poacher carried +a sulphur match and lit it under the tree, when the fumes, ascending, +stupefied the birds, which fell to the ground. The process strongly +resembled the way in which old-fashioned folk stifled their bees by +placing the hive at night, when the insects were still, over a piece of +brown paper dipped in molten brimstone and ignited. The apparently dead +bees were afterwards shaken out and buried; but upon moving the earth +with a spade some of them would crawl out, even after two or three days. + +Sulphur fumes were likewise used for compelling rabbits to bolt from +their buries without a ferret. I tried an experiment in a bury once with +a mixture the chief component of which was gunpowder, so managed as to +burn slowly and give a great smoke. The rabbits did, indeed, just hop +out and hop in again; but it is a most clumsy expedient, because the +fire must be lit on the windward side, and the rabbits will only come +out to leeward. The smoke hangs, and does not penetrate into half the +tunnels; or else it blows through quickly, when you must stop half the +holes with a spade. It is a wretched substitute for a ferret. + +When cock-fighting was common the bellicose inclinations of the +cock-pheasants were sometimes excited to their destruction. A gamecock +was first armed with the sharp spur made from the best razors, and then +put down near where a pheasant-cock had been observed to crow. The +pheasant cock is so thoroughly game that he will not allow any rival +crowing in his locality, and the two quickly met in battle. Like a keen +poniard the game-cock's spur either slew the pheasant outright or got +fixed in the pheasant's feathers, when he was captured. + +A pheasant, too, as he ran deeper into the wood upon an alarm, +occasionally found his neck in a noose suspended across his path. For +rabbiting, the lurcher was and is the dog of all others. He is as +cunning and wily in approaching his game as if he had a cross of feline +nature in his character. Other dogs trust to speed; but the lurcher +steals on his prey without a sound. He enters into the purpose of his +master, and if any one appears in sight remains quietly in the hedge +with the rabbit or leveret in his mouth till a sign bids him approach. +If half the stories told of the docility and intelligence of the lurcher +are true, the poacher needs no other help than one of these dogs for +ground game. But the dogs called lurchers nowadays are mostly of +degenerate and impure breed; still, even these are capable of a good +deal. + +There is a way of fishing with rod and line, but without a bait. The rod +should be in one piece, or else a stout one--the line also very strong +and short, the hook of large size. When the fish is discovered the hook +is quietly dropped into the water and allowed to float, in seeming, +along, till close under it. The rod is then jerked up, and the barb +enters the body of the fish and drags it out. + +This plan requires, of course, that the fish should be visible, and if +stationary is more easily practised; but it is also effective even +against small fish that swim together in large shoals, for if the hook +misses one it strikes another. The most fatal time for fish is when they +spawn: roach, jack, and trout alike are then within reach, and if the +poacher dares to visit the water he is certain of a haul. + +Even in the present day and in the south a fawn is now and then stolen +from parks and forests where deer are kept. Being small, it is not much +more difficult to hide than a couple of hares; and once in the carrier's +cart and at a little distance no one asks any questions. Such game +always finds a ready sale; and when a savoury dish is on the table those +who are about to eat it do not inquire whence it came any more than the +old folk did centuries ago. A nod and a wink are the best sauce. As the +keepers are allowed to sell a certain number of fawns (or say they are), +it is not possible for any one at a distance to know whether the game +was poached or not. An ordinary single-barrel muzzle-loader of the +commonest kind with a charge of common shot will kill a fawn. + +I once started to stalk a pheasant that was feeding in the corner of a +meadow. Beyond the meadow there was a cornfield which extended across to +a preserved wood. But the open stubble afforded no cover--any one +walking in it could be seen--so that the pheasant had to be got at from +one side only. It was necessary also that he should be shot dead without +fluttering of wings, the wood being so near. + +The afternoon sun, shining in a cloudless sky--it was a still October +day--beat hot against the western side of the hedge as I noiselessly +walked beside it. In the aftermath, green but flowerless, a small flock +of sheep were feeding--one with a long briar clinging to his wool. They +moved slowly before me; a thing I wanted; for behind sheep almost any +game can be approached. + +I have also frequently shot rabbits that were out feeding, by the aid of +a herd of cows. It does not seem to be so much the actual cover as the +scent of the animals; for a man of course can be seen over sheep, and +under the legs of cattle. But the breath and odour of sheep or cows +prevent the game from scenting him, and, what is equally effective, the +cattle, to which they are accustomed, throw them off their guard. + +The cart-horses in the fields do not answer so well: if you try to use +one for stalking, unless he knows you he will sheer off and set up a +clumsy gallop, being afraid of capture and a return to work. But cows +will feed steadily in front, and a flock of sheep, very slowly driven, +move on with a gentle 'tinkle, tinkle.' Wild creatures show no fear of +what they are accustomed to, and the use of which they understand. + +If a solitary hurdle be set up in a meadow as a hiding-place from behind +which to shoot the rabbits of a burrow, not one will come out within +gun-shot that evening. They know-that it is something strange, the use +of which they do not understand and therefore avoid. When I first began +to shoot, the difficulty was to judge the distances, and to know how far +a rabbit was from a favourite hiding-place. I once carefully dropped +small green boughs, just broken off, at twenty, thirty, and forty yards, +measuring by paces. This was in the morning. + +In the evening not a rabbit would come out anywhere near these boughs; +they were shy of them even when the leaves had withered and turned +brown; so that I took them away. Yet of the green boughs blown off by a +gale, or the dead grey branches that fall of their own weight, they take +no notice. + +First, then, they must have heard me in their burrows pacing by; +secondly, they scented the boughs as having been handled, and connected +the two circumstances together; and, thirdly, though aware that the +boughs themselves were harmless, they felt that harm was intended. The +pheasant had been walking about in the corner where the hedges met, but +now he went in; still, as he entered the hedge in a quiet way, he did +not appear to be alarmed. The sheep, tired of being constantly driven +from their food, now sheered out from the hedge, and allowed me to go +by. + +As I passed I gathered a few haws and ate them. The reason why birds do +not care much for berries before they are forced to take to them by +frost is because of the stone within, so that the food afforded by the +berries is really small. Yew-berries are an exception; they have a +stone, but the covering to it is sweet, succulent, and thick, and dearly +loved by thrushes. In the ditch the tall grasses, having escaped the +scythe, bowed low with the weight of their own awn-like seeds. + +The corner was not far off now; and I waited awhile behind a large +hawthorn bush growing on the 'shore' of the ditch, thinking that I might +see the pheasant on the mound, or that at least he would recover +confidence if he had previously heard anything. Inside the bush was a +nest already partly filled with fallen leaves, like a little basket. + +A rabbit had been feeding on the other side, but now, suspicious, came +over the bank, and, seeing me, suddenly stopped and lifted himself up. +In that moment I could have shot him, being so near, without putting the +gun to the shoulder, by the sense of direction in the hands; the next he +dived into a burrow. Looking round the bush, I now saw the pheasant in +the hedge, that crossed at right angles in front; this was fortunate, +because through that hedge there was another meadow. It was full of +nut-tree bushes, very tall and thick at the top, but lower down thin, as +is usually the case when poles grow high. To fill the space a fence had +been made of stakes and bushes woven between them, and on this the +pheasant stood. + +It was too far for a safe shot; in a minute he went down into the meadow +on the other side. I then crept on hands and knees towards the +nut-bushes: as I got nearer there was a slight rustle and a low hiss in +the grass, and I had to pause while a snake went by hastening for the +ditch. A few moments afterwards, being close to the hedge, I rose partly +up, and looked carefully over the fence between the hazel wands. There +was the pheasant not fifteen yards away, his back somewhat towards me, +and quietly questing about. + +In lifting the gun I had to push aside a bough--the empty hoods, from +which a bunch of brown nuts had fallen, rested against the barrel as I +looked along it. I aimed at the head--knowing that it would mean instant +death, and would also avoid shattering the bird at so short a range; +besides which there would be fewer scattered feathers to collect and +thrust out of sight into a rabbit bury. A reason why people frequently +miss pheasants in cover-shooting, despite of their size, is because they +look at the body, the wings, and the tail. But if they looked only at +the head, and thought of that, very few would escape. My finger felt the +trigger, and the least increase of pressure would have been fatal; but +in the act I hesitated, dropped the barrel, and watched the beautiful +bird. + +That watching so often stayed the shot that at last it grew to be a +habit: the mere simple pleasure of seeing birds and animals, when they +were quite unconscious that they were observed, being too great to be +spoilt by the discharge. After carefully getting a wire over a jack; +after waiting in a tree till a hare came along; after sitting in a mound +till the partridges began to run together to roost; in the end the wire +or gun remained unused. The same feeling has equally checked my hand in +legitimate shooting: time after time I have flushed partridges without +firing, and have let the hare bound over the furrow free. + +I have entered many woods just for the pleasure of creeping through the +brake and the thickets. Destruction in itself was not the motive; it was +an overpowering instinct for woods and fields. Yet woods and fields lose +half their interest without a gun--I like the power to shoot, even +though I may not use it. The very perfection of our modern guns is to me +one of their drawbacks: the use of them is so easy and so certain of +effect that it takes away the romance of sport. + +There could be no greater pleasure to me than to wander with a matchlock +through one of the great forests or wild tracts that still remain in +England. A hare a day, a brace of partridges, or a wild duck would be +ample in the way of actual shooting. The weapon itself, whether +matchlock, wheel-lock, or even a cross-bow, would be a delight. Some of +the antique wheel-lock guns are really beautiful specimens of design. +The old powder-horns are often gems of workmanship--hunting scenes cut +out in ivory, and the minutest detail of hoof or antler rendered with +life-like accuracy. How pleasant these carvings feel to the fingers! It +is delightful to handle such weapons and such implements. + +The matchlocks, too, are inlaid or the stocks carved. There is slaughter +in every line of our modern guns--mechanical slaughter. But were I +offered participation in the bloodiest battue ever arranged, or the +freedom of an English forest or mountain tract, to go forth at any time +untrammelled by attendant, but only to shoot with matchlock, wheel-lock, +or cross-bow, my choice would be unhesitating. + +There would be pleasure in winding up the lock with the spanner; +pleasure in adjusting the priming; or with the matchlock in lighting the +match. To wander out into the brake, to creep from tree to tree so +noiselessly that the woodpecker should not cease to tap--in that there +is joy. The consciousness that everything depends upon your own personal +skill, and that you have no second resource if that fails you, gives the +real zest to sport. + +If the wheel did not knock a spark out quickly; if the priming had not +been kept dry or the match not properly blown, or the cross-bow set +exactly accurate, then the care of approach would be lost. You must hold +the gun steady, too, while the slow priming ignites the charge. + +An imperfect weapon--yes; but the imperfect weapon would accord with the +great oaks, the beech trees full of knot-holes, the mysterious thickets, +the tall fern, the silence and the solitude. The chase would become a +real chase: not, as now, a foregone conclusion. And there would be time +for pondering and dreaming. + +Let us be always out of doors among trees and grass, and rain and wind +and sun. There the breeze comes and strikes the cheek and sets it aglow: +the gale increases and the trees creak and roar, but it is only a ruder +music. A calm follows, the sun shines in the sky, and it is the time to +sit under an oak, leaning against the bark, while the birds sing and the +air is soft and sweet. By night the stars shine, and there is no +fathoming the dark spaces between those brilliant points, nor the +thoughts that come as it were between the fixed stars and landmarks of +the mind. + +Or it is the morning on the hills, when hope is as wide as the world; or +it is the evening on the shore. A red sun sinks, and the foam-tipped +waves are crested with crimson; the booming surge breaks, and the spray +flies afar, sprinkling the face watching under the pale cliffs. Let us +get out of these indoor narrow modern days, whose twelve hours somehow +have become shortened, into the sunlight and the pure wind. A something +that the ancients called divine can be found and felt there still. + + + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Amateur Poacher, by Richard Jefferies + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE AMATEUR POACHER *** + +***** This file should be named 13730.txt or 13730.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/7/3/13730/ + +Produced by Malcolm Farmer and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading +Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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