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.