THE STORY OF A HARE J-C-TREGARTHEN (jj^atnell 3llnioet0ttg Hibtatg BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE FISKE ENDOWMENT FUND THE BEQUEST OF WILLARD FISKE LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY 1866-1863 1905 QL 795 %^y^'">*y L'Tary MraimDfiiiSl'..,? flare / 3 1924 024 785 028 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024785028 THE STORY OF A HARE FIRST EDITION . . . Novmier 1912 Btprinted June 1916 C. Had.] "He Sat and Listened." [ifyojiitspiece. THE STORY OF A HARE BY J. C. TREGARTHEN, F.Z.S. AUTHOR OF "WILD LIFE AT THE LANDS BHD," "THE LIFE STORY OF A FOX," •' THE STORY OF AN OTTER.' WITH ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK HEARST'S INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY CO. 1915 TO MARIE CORELLI IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF A VALUED AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP A2 PREFACE Whilst few, if any, animals have more enemies than the hare, none perhaps is better endowed with instincts to outwit them. As that great mediaeval hunter, the Master of Game, said in 1402 : "There is no man in this world that would say that any hound can unravel that which a hare has done, or that could find her. For she will go the length of a bowshot or more by one way, and ruse again by another and then she will take her way by another side and the same she shall do ten, twelve or twenty times, then she will come into some hedge or thicket and shall make semblance to abide there and then will make crosswards ten or twelve times and will make her ruses and then she will take some false path and shall go thence a great way, and such semblance she will make many times before she goes to her seat." Shifts such as these, probably unrivalled in their subtlety, are embodied in the incidents, based on observation or record, which make up viii PREFACE the present story of the hare, a story for the first time told at length. Imagination has of necessity supplied much of the description of a life spent under the stars ; but nothing alien to the hare's habits and character has been wittingly introduced, though what the outlook on the world, what the thoughts of this and the predatory creatures entering into the drama are, must ever remain a matter for speculation. The narrative has been placed a century back, chiefly because the more primitive days of a bygone Cornwall allowed the inclusion of more numerous fauna, and permitted the use of a wilder setting. For my aim has been to present a picture instinct with the spirit of the wild, of the upland, moor, and cliff of the Land's End at a time when the prey and the beast of prey roamed the night fearless of snare and gin — and man rarely intruded by day — under conditions, rapidly fading into oblivion, which seem worthy of record before they disappear for ever. J. C. T. RosMORRAN, Newquay, Cornwall, Aug. 28, 1912. CONTENTS CHAP. I. Early Troubles PAOB I II. Education 23 III. Independence 40 IV. Chased by Polecats 56 V. A Delusive Refuge. 66 VI. Back on Carn Brea 78 VII. From Pillar to Post 9S VIII. The Great Winter . 118 IX. Peril of Death 136 X. The Fiends of the Wild . 160 XI. L'HOIIME S'AUUSB 180 Index . ■ 195 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "He Sat and Listened" .... Frontispiece "They Nestled Close" .... Face page 4 Author's Sketch-map of the Scene of the Story ...... 32 "Grey Fox" 84 Mount's Bay from the Beacon. „ TOO The Remains of the Beacon Wood . » 152 A Stoat 162 Sennen Church Tower .... 170 2 CHAPEL CARN BREA ago, there came a hare in search of a spot to which she might safely commit her young. She was hard to satisfy, rejecting for this reason or for that a score of harbourages that competed for her favour. One night she all but decided on 3. bramble-patch near the top of Caer Bran ; the next she fancied first a heathery knoll on Bartinney, then an abandoned mine-heap on Sancreed Beacon ; and at the last moment re- jected both for the western slope of Chapel Carn Brea, partly on account of its uninterrupted outlook, but more because it was less overrun than the sister hills by the predatory creatures that infested the countryside. All through the month of March she had not seen a polecat or even a stoat upon the hillside ; only once had she detected on it the trail of an enemy ; so with a feeling of security the timorous mother en- trusted her young to its keeping, laying them in a tussock of coarse grass near a ruined chantry. They were pretty little things with wide-open eyes, distinguishable by only the white star in the forehead of the male and the greater restless- ness that he displayed. The tiny fellow, as if eager to explore the world into which he had just been born, was all agog to be out and about in the afterglow, and had not his mother checked him till the impulse passed, he would have HIS BIRTH 3 left the form and perhaps lost himself amongst the furze. He constantly renewed his struggles to have his way ; but the moment he ceased, she removed the restraining pad and caressed him till, like his sister, he became drowsy and at length fell asleep. When the stars shone bright, the hare rose, stretched her stately limbs, covered the little keepers with the grass-blades, gathered herself for a spring, and leapt to an outcropping rock. On landing she leapt again and again and again, in order to prevent any beast of prey from following her tracks and discovering the form. After taking these precautions she made for the crest of the hill, and standing oh the ruin, snuffed the wind and scrutinised the waste. Presently, assured that no enemy threatened, she set out for the feeding-ground. At the foot of the long slope she repeated her ruse of the leaps, and passed through a hole in the wall that separated the wild from the farm land, to which she had been attracted by the tender herbage of the young wheat. Near midnight the leverets awoke and found her gone ; yet in their loneliness they uttered neither plaint nor call, nor, strange to say, attempted to leave the form, but nestled close hour after hour awaiting her return. They gave 4 AN APRIL MORNING no heed to the wind, for its sighing meant nothing to them ; but at early dawn, though no sound broke the silence, the cocked ears first of one, then of the other, told they were all ex- pectation for some signal. Soon there came the faint, low call which instinct whispered was their mother's, followed by the soft beat of the pads, growing more and more distinct till with a last bound the hare cleared the wide space between the rock and the form, and at once gave herself to the hungry, excited mites. Whilst she suckled them, a lark rose and greeted the day with notes so rapturous as to drown the crowings of the cocks in the homesteads dotting the plain. The leverets fed and fed till they were satisfied, then settled down to rest against their mother's side, where presently the sun, risen above Caer Bran, discovered them, and threw a bright splash of warm light across their russet coats. It was a lovely April morning. Towards noon a big black cloud came up out of the west bringing needed rain, whilst a rainbow arched land and sea ; and then the first call of the cuckoo rang out through the stillness. Chapel Carn Brea faintly echoed " Cuckoo ! Cuckoo ! " The joyous notes brought the housewife to the door, checked the frolics of the wondering HIS MOTHER'S ANXIETY 5 lambs, made the field-mice sit up and listen and the leverets prick their waking ears. The far- flung message that told of kindly weather and plenty for man and beast cheered every living thing that heard it : it cheered even the hare as she sat and watched over her young, full of misgivings for their safety. Their helplessness, still more her own powerlessness to defend them against enemies, stirred her deepest feelings, and made her mothering instinct so much stronger than that of the vixen laid up with cubs in the croft beyond the wheatfield. She was haunted by the dread of being bereft of them ; and incapable of defence though she was, her fears kept her ever alert and vigilant. She never slept. Even when she drowsed her open, wakeful eyes saw all that passed within their range — the farmer faring to his work and hastening to his meals, the cows driven to and from the fields, the pigs wandering up and down the lane, the donkey browsing on the furzy waste by the common with the large pool, and the geese who, towards sunset, waddled from it to the farmyard gate cackling to be penned, as if apprehensive of being carried off by the hill-foxes that came and sniffed at their door when man was abed. She noted too the ravens as they winged by on their way to the cliffs, and the kites as they soared high B 6 A DANGEROUS INTRUDER overhead ; she watched with no little concern the buzzard whose shadow passed over her as he searched the hillside before alighting on the broken chancel of the ruin. His terrifying cat- like mew caused the leverets to stir beneath her, but she herself remained as motionless as the furze; indeed, till the sun had set, she never moved for fear of prying eyes. Four days passed without disquieting incident, but on the fifth the vixen paid a visit to the hill and threw the hare into a fever of anxiety. The daring marauder came at high noon, during the farmer's dinner-hour, when the land is for- saken and the peace of the waste spreads to the fields, enticing the nocturnal prowler to venture forth in broad daylight in search of food. Thus lured, the vixen, yielding to the importunities of her hungry cubs, stole from her earth and, keep- ing to the overgrown ditches, gained the boundary wall without exposing herself to view. But the instant her mask showed above the coping- stone the hare espied her, and from that moment followed every movement. She thought that the fox knew of her presence and was in search of her, as well as she might, for the hill harboured no prey save herself and her young, at least none worth the coming for. So while the vixen searched the lower slopes the hare THE VIXEN'S SEARCH 7 watched with eyes starting from her head, anxious to learn whether the murderous creature would hit the line she had left at early dawn. Once she crossed it without checking ; she flashed over it again near the Giant's Bowl, and then the hare knew that the trail would not betray her ; the hot sun had evaporated every particle of what little scent she had left.^ The hunter moved at an unusually quick pace, as if she had set herself the task of examining the whole hillside during the short time that man remained within doors. Now she threaded the bushes, now she leapt them ; once she was lost to view in a patch of tall furze gorgeous with blossom, but in a few seconds she re- appeared at the far end to continue the quest in the open. At last near the black shadow cast by a boulder she stopped, assumed a listening attitude, then plunged her long nose into a bush after a mouse, but apparently without getting it, for she did not lick her chops. Nothing disconcerted, however, on she went again, ranging to and fro without a pause till, half-way up the slope, she stood suddenly still and looked towards the homestead as if all at once alive to the risk she was running. A glance satisfied her that man was still > The doe hare leaves little scent whilst her young are helpless. 8 MAN indoors, and again she resumed the quest, if possible with greater keenness than before. Every stride now was taking her dangerously nearer and nearer to the hare, but whilst she was yet some five or six rods below the form a sheep-dog barked, and in an instant she was transformed from a lithe hunter into a craven creature. Crouching, she fixed her gaze on the dog expressing his delight at the reappearance of his master, who stood in shirt-sleeves at the open door. "Down, Shep." At the sound of the man's voice the vixen sank into the herbage as if turned to lead, and remained there motion- less, save in heaving flank and lolling tongue. Presently the farmer withdrew ; the vixen slunk down the hill, carefully avoiding the exposed places, climbed the wall, and vanished from sight. Much as the hare was relieved by this retreat, she could not regaia her peace of mind ; for the visit left her with the fear that the creature would return at nightfall and renew the search, a thought which urged her to remove the leverets at dusk. But where? The nearest spot that commended itself to her was at the foot of Bartinney, about a mile distant ; and the way thither led across the trails of fox and badger, who might surprise her THE HARE IRRESOLUTE 9 with her burden, and have her at their mercy. Her position was a very difficult one; to stay was perilous, to shift was no less so. Uncertain what to do for the best, she remained irresolute till the stars began to peep ; then, hoping against hope that the fox might not come after all, she decided to remain. In any case she must go and feed, yet setting-out time came and went whilst the hare kept to the form. She could not tear herself away from her young with this danger hanging over them. A sickle moon lit hill and plain and threw into relief the coping- stone of the wall on which the eyes of the anxious mother were fixed. Against the granite she could not fail to see the dark form of her enemy. The better to observe, the hare raised herself on her hind legs ; and the leverets, thinking she was going to play with them, stood up too, resting their forefeet against her sides ; but at a whisper from their mother they sank down again into a sitting posture. The night wore on, however, without sign of the fox, and at length the hare, feeling somewhat reassured, set out for the nearest feeding-ground. There she browsed until midnight, when apprehension for her young drove her back to the hill. Although she found all well, she stayed close by and fed on the rough herbage near the summit. B 2 10 THE VIXEN AGAIN When she returned to the form her fears had nearly subsided ; by dusk they no longer haunted her, and in a day or two she dismissed the fox from her mind. She thought that her enemy, satisfied that the hill was bare of prey, would not trouble her again, so that it came as a surprise when, a few morn- ings later, she espied a vixen at the foot of the slope, endeavouring to solve the puzzle of the scent the hare had left on her way to the form less than an hour before. It was strange how little the sight perturbed her, but when unaffected by her extreme anxiety for the leverets she knew from experience there was no real need for fear. Never once had she known a fox to succeed in tracing her from foiled ground, though in the past she had known many who had tried as the vixen was now trying. There near the wall the creature persisted in the almost hopeless task, following now this way, now that along the many lines of scent to discover the final course taken by the hare after her last leap. Over and over again she seemed on the point of giving it up : the network of trails maddened and be- wildered her ; and her irritation made her snap viciously at the long bramble spray in which her brush got entangled. Presently, in her despair, she made a cast at random ; as luck THE BAFFLING TRAIL 11 would have it, she hit the true line. At once she was all alive; her brush, which had hung lifeless, now wagged furiously, and at the sight of her enemy's success the hare grew uneasy. Slowly, very slowly, the vixen advanced along the trail as if fearful of losing what had cost her so much trouble to find. Anon she came to the place above the clump of blossoming furze where since the midday visit the hare had woven another maze of tracks before coming to the leaping-place by the form. On reaching it the vixen tried to follow the trail as it had been laid, but the criss-crossing it had received so confused her that presently she lost patience and made a short cast beyond. Here she happened on a part of the trail where the hare had returned on her foil, and on coming to the spot near the ruin where it ended she actually raised her mask as if she believed the hare had taken wing and might be seen in mid-air. For a moment she seemed to despair again ; but the hunger caused by the night's bad hunting and the thought of her five ravenous cubs goaded her on ; she shook the dew from her coat and made another cast. This took her within a dozen yards of the spot where mother and young squatted flat on the ground. It seemed that the vixen must scent them ; had there been a breath 12 LOATH TO LEAVE of wind she could hardly have failed; but the air was still ; not a spray or blade moved save those disturbed by the vixen as she moved hither and thither with ears widespread to catch the sRghtest sound. A stifled cry, the faintest rustle in that silence must have betrayed them ; through the trying, critical seconds, however, they never moved, they scarcely breathed. The vixen seemed loath to leave the spot ; but at length she quitted it for the summit, where she searched the fallen stones and scaled the crumbled walls, her form clearly outlined against the sky now tinted with orange by the coming day. On the stone lintel she presently came to a stand, arrested by the sight of the sun which peeped above the eastern hills and warned her that it was time to be seeking her earth. Reluctant as she was to obey, she dropped to the ground and made her way slowly down the shadowed slope. Half-way in the descent she suddenly turned her mask and scrutinised the ground in the hope of catching the hare with head raised watching her retreat ; but bush, rock, and frond alone met her roving eyes. Near the Giant's Bowl she again looked back, and by the expression on her face, now vindic- tive rather than perplexed, seem to say : " Wily one, you've beaten me this dawn, but I'll lick my CARN BREA ABANDONED 13 chops over you yet, both you and your tender young ones." Then, the rumble of wheels urging her, she hurried away, her beautiful coat all aripple with the play of her lissom limbs. As soon as she had crossed the wall, the hare, who had observed her from behind the blades, resumed the suckling of her frightened young, fondling them as she had never done before. It had been a narrow escape, and the hare was now all impatience to forsake the hill. But that could not be before nightfall, so she and the leverets spent the Jong day unnerved by the rank scent left by the fox on the herb- age. The slow sun at last sank beneath the sea. At once the hare took the doe leveret in her mouth and carried it along the southern flank of the chain for more than a mile to the foot of Bartinney, where she laid it in a patch of bracken bordering a little green. The next moment she was on her way back at her best pace, as though she dreaded that the vixen might forestall her. But no enemy was to be seen : the jack was as she had left him. Seizing him by the skin of the neck she bore him rapidly along despite his kicking, crouching whilst two stoats passed, dropping him thrice to rest herself, and finally depositing him in a clump of rushes by a rill some score yards from his sister. It 14 THE FAIRIES' GREEN was not without a reason that she laid them on opposite sides of the green, for by thus separat- ing tjiem she hoped that at least one might escape detection in the event of a visit from an enemy. On collecting himself after his strange ex- perience, the jack sat and listened to the music of the water, whilst through an opening in the rushes his eyes scanned the green, whose close velvety sward seemed to cry aloud to be gam- bolled on. There, so the country people aver, the fairies forgather to hold high revel on the inviting turf, tripping to the tinkling of the falls, in the dark-green ring lighted by innumerable glow-worms. No little folk appeared that night, however; nothing in fact came near until the hare returned to attend to her young, before vanishing like the wraith she seemed and ensconcing herself in some brambles on the lip of the green. She had not been there long when a magpie left his resting-place in the hawthorn overhanging the turf and stood preening his feathers on the topmost spray. Presently, his quick eyes noted the marks left by the hare's pads on the dewy surface, and examined them searchingly as if to learn the identity of the trespasser. He imagined that a badger or a fox had made them ; the THE MAGPIES 15 thought that a hare — he had only seen one — had crossed the green never entered his head, much less that a family of hares was at that moment lying hidden around it. The inquisitive bird was soon joined by his mate, and after a little chatter he flew away with her towards a homestead from which the smoke was just beginning to rise. They alighted on the elder- tree springing from the wall of the rickyard, the white of their plumage very conspicuous in the bright level rays which lit them up and fired the dormer-window of the thatched roof beyond. By and by they dropped into the yard, where amongst the straw they found an egg. They broke and ate it. Then the hen-bird came flying back in great haste to the nest, as if she feared her precious clutch might be chilled and become addled. Later the cock-bird returned to tell her what was happening in the farmyard, and at once flew back to the elder. He was back again in half an hour : indeed he kept flying to and fro until sundown. The hare rejoiced in the restlessness of this arch-mobber of vermin : it gave her a sense of security such as she had not felt since the birth of her young. For her the magpie was an untiring patrol, and further, one gifted with a tongue that would make the boldest fox shrink from the insults it was capable 16 HE GROOMS HIMSELF of raining on him. Her fears fled in the presence of this sentinel of the wild, so that for a few minutes during the afternoon she actually fell asleep. "If only there were some night-bird to watch over us," she thought while she sat await- ing dusk. And as soon as darkness fell an owl began hooting. At once, as if she took it for a signal, she stole from the form to attend to her young. Her visit was most welcome to the jack, who was very sorry when she withdrew. He listened to her retreating steps, and as they died away tried to combat the feeling of loneliness that beset him. In the weary watch that followed he sorely missed the companion of his waking hours. He felt forlorn without her soft, warm side to nestle against ; but in a night or two he found something to occupy him. He took to grooming himself, and off and on spent hours brushing his ears and licking his coat, especially the snow-white fur on his belly, which had looked so ghostly as his mother bore him through the dusk. He made himself as clean as a pink, and when the feeling of isolation wore off, as it soon did, he felt as happy as a strong, healthy leveret could feel. Soon, however, his muscles began to ache for want of exercise : they kept urging him to throw aside his fears and break FORBIDDEN FROLICS 17 his narrow bounds ; but night after night he resisted the impulse. At last inaction became unendurable. Regardless of his mothers monitions and the whispers of instinct, he leapt the rill and raced about the moonlit green like a thing possessed. Instantly he was joined by his sister, and never perhaps did two leverets enjoy their stolen freedom more. They bounded over each other's back ; they leapt the rock by the thorn, clearing it by a good foot ; they galloped round and round like performers in a circus. Tiring of this, they rose on their hind legs and sparred with their pads, moving about the fairy ring and patting each other's face like boxers. But whilst they were thus engaged the snapping of a brier disturbed the night and sent them to their seats. With wildly beating hearts they sat till the clumsy badger who had trodden on the spray passed out of hearing ; then out they came again and renewed their frolics, which lasted without further interruption till the moon began to pale. Their mother found them in their seats looking as innocent as could be ; but she knew of their escapade from the scent on the green and, recognising in this bid for liberty a token that the time was come for leading them out, she 18 THEY ARE TAKEN OUT resolved to devote herself to this duty without further delay. So the following night, instead of returning at early dawn, she hurried back in the small hours and surprised the culprits, not, as she expected, in the midst of their games, but nibbling the grass of the green. At the sight of their mother the guilty creatures scurried to their forms, only to bound out at her summons and follow frisking at her heels as she led past the spring to the hill. She breasted the slope at a slow canter, but soon quickened her steps. Half-way up she began doubling, the leverets imitating her twists and turns in a surprising way and with astonishing exactness. Towards daybreak, however, they flagged, and by the time they got back to the green they were so tired that they were content to remain in the form till the hour for exercise came round again. The hare returned nightly at almost the same moment, and went farther and farther afield as their strength grew, without encountering even in these extended excursions any enemy more formidable than an old badger, who never dreamt of pursuit. It is true that he looked hard at them, but only because of his surprise at seeing survivors of a race which he thought extinct. The instant he satisfied himself they really were THEY CHOOSE SEATS 19 hares, he resumed his grunting and crossed the ridge on the way to his earth. At the first faint blush in the east the hares sped towards the pool that fills the hollow between Bartinney and Chapel Carn Brea. There near the edge of the water the leverets confiised their trails and chose their seats. This they did under the eyes of their mother, who watched interestedly from the slope where she lay amongst the heather. As it proved, no precautions were necessary, for no creature came near ; indeed, nothing disturbed the drowsy stillness till late in the day, when a breeze sprang up that sent the water in tiny wavelets against the rushy shore. This immunity from molestation was the result of the hare's knowledge of the ways of her enemies, of their retreats, and especially of the times of their coming and going. At every outing they crossed the foul line left by some marauder on its way to the lowland, but — those of the badger excepted — never a homing trail ; for the hares were settled in their forms before fox, polecat, and stoat came slinking back to their lairs. But not even the hare, with cunning quick- ened by the dependence of her young, could provide against every contingency. On the fourth day of their stay by the pool, when they 20 DISCOVERED were back in their seats around the green, they were discovered and attacked by a bloodthirsty little creature that was abroad foraging in the very middle of the morning. The hare's suspicions were first aroused by the angry cries of some small birds in the corner of the nearest field. Soon the demonstration grew more and more distinct, showing that the birds were pursuing the object of their displeasure in the direction of the green. From the first the noise attracted the attention of the magpie. Immediately he saw the birds he cocked his head, now this way now that, as if beholding the most interesting sight of his life. And a strange sight it certainly was ; for, accompanied by linnets and finches that fluttered over it, there came with the quick movement of its kind, a weasel, seemingly quite indifferent to the mobbing it received. As soon as it appeared the hare quivered in every limb ; but there was no shiver of fear, for when presently the little miscreant scented the jack and stood on its hind legs screaming, to paralyse him with terror, she bounded across the green, and with a stroke of a forepad sent the animal flying into the water. Undaunted, and enraged at this treatment, the weasel now confronted the hare herself, only to be knocked over, trampled THE WEASEL'S DISCOMFITURE 21 on, and spurned to the middle of the green, where it lay on its back kicking as though its last hour was come. Whereupon the magpie, who, considering the weasel too insignificant for his intervention, had hitherto held its tongue, chattered loudly as if to applaud the deed ; whilst the hare, whose blood was up, remained within a yard of the weasel, ready to renew the battle should it again show fight. Braver still, the linnet whose eggs the weasel had been sucking, as was evident from the stain on its muzzle, stood within a few inches and upbraided it for the wrong done her, and, frail thing though she was, scarcely deigned to move when shortly it regained its feet and made for the hill. It was not allowed to sneak away unattended ; birds and hare — strange allies — accompanied the discomfited little wretch past the spring to the heather, where it wormed its way amongst the stems and hid itself from view. Then the linnets and finches, having avenged their friend, flew back to their thickets; and the hare, crouching low as if frightened now by her own shadow, stole to her form. The magpie still perched on the spray from which he had witnessed the scene. The arch-rogue had thoroughly enjoyed every phase of it, and now that it was over he was all alive, quizzing c 22 THE HARE'S RESOLVE the spots where the hare and the leverets lay, as if trying to get a view of them amidst the cover. At last he too flew away ; then no trace remained of the participators in the drama but a tiny feather that lay where the linnet had stood. The visit of the weasel had its consequences, for the hare, fearing that the creature would return when she was away foraging, resolved to take the leverets with her at setting-out time, and after she had regained her composure she sat planning the round she would lead them. CHAPTER II EDUCATION The low summons of the hare drew the leverets to her side, and when she set out they followed close at her heels. Late as she was in starting, she picked her way down the rough foothills very slowly and with extreme caution ; indeed, so halting was her advance, so mis- trustful was she of every rock and bush, that she might have been Fear herself leading her offspring past ambuscades. But the moment she set foot on the reclaitied land — the field where the linnet was roosting by her empty nest — she quickened her steps and passed rapidly from enclosure to enclosure, the novices wonder- ing at the smoothness of the ground and shrinking from the shadows cast by the gates under which they crept. Soon the httle band entered the grassy lane which led past the magpie's elder to the farm- house, and there the leverets got a scare from some fowls packed as close as they could sit 24 THE DISLODGED ROOSTER on a limb of the solitary sycamore. The birds mistook the hares for foxes, and in their panic dislodged the rooster from his perch. The extraordinary noise he made, as with a great flapping of wings he fell to the ground, frightened the leverets almost out of their lives ; in their terror they pressed so close to their mother's side that the three were for a moment jammed in the gap by which they entered the neighbouring pasture. But the leverets showed no fear of the kine that lay there chewing their cud, or of the ewes and lambs in the next enclosure but one, passing in and out amongst them as unconcernedly as if born and reared in their midst. In the adjoining field the wanderers remained to feed on the abundant crop of clover, which furnished so sumptuous a. feast for the leverets after the poor herbage of the green that they would have eaten to excess had not their mother called them off. It was not that, however, which made her lead them away, but her eagerness to show them the country and teach them all she knew. Moreover, she was anxious to acquaint them with their powers, especially with their ability to swim, for it would stand them in good stead when pressed by enemies, as she knew by experience. A SILENT NIGHT 25 So, on leaving the clover, she made in the direction of the moorland pool to which her mother had led her when young, where, owing to the absence of all but the scantiest cover, no enemy could approach unobserved. Annoyed at having to leave the clover, the leverets followed with reluctance, till presently the still- ness was broken by the music of running water. At the sound the jack pricked his ears as though he recognised a familiar voice. It was indeed the rill, but swollen now by tributary runnels into a little stream three feet wide at the shallows where the hares crossed. On the bridle- path leading to the hamlet of Crowz-an-Wra the leverets raced up and down, whilst the hare sat on the turfy border by an old cross and watched them. In the profound silence the beating of their pads on the hard surface was loud enough to mask the approach of a stealthy enemy ; of this the leverets seemed fully conscious, for they stood motionless at short intervals and listened. Time after time the only sound that filled the pause was the subdued but solemn roar of the sea about the cliffs of the Land's End. Presently, however, there broke upon it an ominous "patter, patter, patter." In an instant the timorous creatures were flying. Near a c 2 26 IN FLIGHT heap of stones they stopped and listened with ears a-cock, and there again came that "patter, patter, patter," very faint at first but rapidly growing more and more distinct. Whoever the pursuer, he was coming along at a rapid pace. The rhythm of the footfall fascinated the hares. They stood with eyes fixed on the track to get a view the moment the creature showed. But all at once the noise ceased, to the obvious disquiet of the hare. She snuffled and snorted as when in the presence of the weasel, and set off again at a swinging pace with the leverets, now thoroughly alarmed, obedient to her every movement. Suddenly she bounded from the path to the selvedge of turf. On landing she leapt again and again. The leverets followed as if tied to her, leaping nearly as far as she did, for already they could cover nine feet in a spring. Then they sped over croft and field till, quite a mile from the track, they came to a level waste with the pool in its midst. She was about to lead them into the water when she noticed the jack on his hind legs surveying the moor. Stung by this reminder of her negligence, she leapt to the bank and looked in the direction of the trail. She looked long, but saw no sign of the pursuer, and then, completely satisfied that all was well, FALSE SECURITY 27 rejoined the leverets, who followed her without shrinking towards the middle of the pool. It seemed as if the long-legged creatures would never get out of their depth, yet they lost their foothold at last, fell to swimming, and soon gained the opposite bank. In their wet coats they looked, more leggy than ever, but regained their usual appearance after shaking themselves a time or two. Then the hare again scanned the almost bare surface and, seeing nothing, gave up all thought of the enemy and devoted herself to her young. Her eyes were all for them : she had not another glance for her back trail. Her lack of vigilance was the opportunity of the dog fox who had struck their line in the clover-field and followed it to the moor, which he was now scrutinising from the only rock that rose above it. He looked every- where but at the right spot. In his ignorance of a hare's ways he did not examine the pool, till a slight disturbance of the surface arrested his wandering gaze : even then he thought that the ripples were caused by wildfowl ; but the moon emerged from the black cloud that had obscured it, and revealed the three hares frisking in the shallows. The fox licked his chops at the rare sight, 28 A TICKLISH MOMENT and hopeless though he thought the stalk, re- isolved to attempt it. Instantly he slipped from the rock and stole forward, taking advantage of the meanest tuft to conceal his approach. Yet for all his cleverness he was a conspicuous object, and had the hare been alert she could not have failed to see him. Once, indeed, she did seem uneasy, as if vaguely conscious of danger ; the fox, whose eyes never left her, was quick to see that, and when she looked his way he was rigid in his stride and escaped observa- tion. But immediately she turned he resumed his advance, and soon it seemed he might suc- ceed in his murderous design. Noiseless as a phantom, he drew nearer and nearer till, with ears flat and body crouching to the ground, he reached the stunted rushes on the margin of the pool. Now he was so near the hares that when they shook themselves the spray all but reached him. Again and again with his cruel eyes he measured the distance, and as often refrained from launch- ing himself: he would not spoil the stalk by a rash step, for at any moment the hares might approach within reach of his spring, or they might re-enter the pool and be at his mercy. And it looked as if his patience would be re- warded, for in a second or two, seconds which REYNARD OUTPACED 29 seemed hours, the jack moved towards him. Another yard and his fate would be sealed. But he stopped to scratch one of his ears ; and when he was about to advance again there came from out the stillness a breath of wind laden with the foul scent of the marauder. Quicker than thought the affrighted creature whipped round and followed his mother and sister, who were already in full retreat. As the leveret turned, the fox made a tremendous spring, but he landed four feet short and could only make a frantic effort to overtake it. For a score yards or so the chase was most exciting, neither gained nor lost ; but the terrific pace was beyond the power of the fox to maintain, and as he fell behind the jack drew farther and farther away, increasing his lead so much that presently reynard desisted from pursuit. Panting he stood and watched, craning his neck to get a last view as the con- spicuous scuts disappeared from sight. Then, after a glance at the sky, the disappointed hunter made back over the moor, slowly at first but quickening his pace as he went, his neat foot- prints commingling here and there in the soft ground with the nail-pricks of the hares. The hares, on discovering that the fox had given up pursuit, slackened speed, and when they reached Brea Farm lingered awhile to 30 SIGNS OF INDEPENDENCE feed before withdrawing for the day. In the grey dawn they crossed the wall and made their way towards the old chantry. Half-way to the summit the leverets, apparently without a hint, separated first from the hare and then from each other, and secreted themselves in seats where the sun would find them early and where, weary after their long round, they soon passed from drowsiness into a sound sleep.. The week that followed was singularly void of disquieting incidents ; nevertheless it was a period of great importance in the life of the jack, because of the signs of independence that manifested themselves in his conduct. Hitherto he had been tractable enough considering his sex; under the influence of fear he had been a model of good behaviour; now all was changed, suddenly changed. The night following his escape from the fox, he stayed behind in the clover-field long after his mother had gone on, and — a thing he had never done before — took no notice of her repeated calls except to twitch his ears as if annoyed at her persistency. Then the very next night he obstinately refused to leave the wheatfield, though his mother shook with fright as she told him that she had just seen a polecat looking out of a rabbit-hole in the hedge, and that to stay might cost him his life. But she THE TRUANT 31 might as well have besought the granite rubbing- post near them for all the heed the self-willed creature gave ; he simply went on nibbling. On both occasions she had to come back and fetch him, and thoroughly did he deserve the drumming he got. He disliked being punished, but did not mend his ways. Indeed he grew worse. A few nights later — it was Tuesday, because the Sennen men were at bell-practice — his mother all at once missed him and, going back, found him standing on his hind legs gazing at a scarecrow. The beaver-hatted object had excited his curiosity, and he was waiting to see it move. That was no great offence : before two hours had passed, however, the incorrigible fellow gave her the slip, and by making use of the "leaping" ruse she had taught him, prevented her from tracing him. She gave him up for lost ; but the truant was happy enough, roaming amidst the barley or playing among the shadows cast by a stone- circle, confident in his knowledge of the country and his ability to find his way back to the hill. Yet he must have had misgivings or got scared, for he returned to the Cam at a very early hour ; and there his mother found him looking sheepish enough after his spell of freedom. She 32 A DELECTABLE STRAND had not sought him in order to rebuke him, for she had given up both complaining and correction ; she had come solely to satisfy herself that he was safe. In a way she rejoiced in his independence, knowing that the time was fast approaching when he would have to fend for himself. And because the moment of separation was imminent, she led him and his sister that very night to the spot beloved above all others by the hares of the Land's End, the dunes of Sennen and the long strand of Whitesand Bay. She took a bee-line from the Carn and, leading at a good pace, soon reached her destination, where the leverets, pleased by the feel of the sand under their pads, hopped and skipped like lambs, or like runners in an arena with dunes for spectators and waves to applaud, galloped after their fleet-footed mother with the speed of the wind. Their disappearance into the gloom and sudden reappearance made them seem quite uncanny on that uncanny foreshore, haunted, if tradition be true, by drowned sailors who hail one another across the beach. The surge teat on the shore, the swell boomed in the near caves, the breeze stirred the rushes tufting the dunes : except for these the hares were alone; but the light gleamed across the ^tta.-~r<.t C„fe,^^l.dc fa S«.^,««(.ft£0e«vt. 2-C^^ IU^immU^m J .M^ AUTHOR'S Sketch-map of the Scene of the Story. [To face p. 82. HE TURNS SULKY 33 waters from the Longships, and near midnight the faint sweep of mufHed oars told where the Preventive Patrol crossed the bay. The unusual noise caused the hares to cease their scamperings and look seaward. Yet danger was not there but at the foot of the dunes, where a half-wild cat crouched near the path by which they came and eagerly awaited their return. All unconscious of her presence the hares left the beach to play on the rocks at Genvor Head, now uncovered by the tide ; there the jack, prompted by the adventurous spirit that was ever urging him to do "something grand," made along the ledge towards the point over which the sea was dashing dangerously. Luckily his mother observed him and drove him back, despite the efforts he made to get past her. So he turned sulky and lagged behind her and his sister when presently they crossed the dunes for the feeding-ground. The cat, who had been a close observer of the scene on the rocks, and was not a little chagrined when two of the hares passed wide of her station, now fixed her attention on the jack, as his slow movements made her think he was wounded and might fall an easy prey. But again she was doomed to disappointment ; for while she debated whether to rush at the leveret or stay where she was, the jack 34 CORNERED recovered his temper and went off at full speed over the dunes. Graymalkin naturally thought she had seen the last of him. Leaving her hiding-place, she went and sat by the mouth of a rabbit-hole, to try to secure one of the occupants when it came out. She might have been there a quarter of an hour when to her surprise she saw the jack pass on his way to the beach. He was making straight for the rocks. Without a moment's hesitation she followed, so quickly that when he reached the point of the rocks, she had gained the shore end and cut off his retreat. Yellow though she was, it is a wonder that he did not see her as she crossed the sand, but he did not ; what first drew his attention was the mewing noise she made whilst creeping panther-like to the spot where the rocks contract to a narrow waist which the hare must pass. There she stopped. At sight of the hideous creature he realised the straits he was in, and in his terror backed involuntarily nearer and nearer to the edge ; the sea as it surged over the rock reached half-way up his legs, the spray drenched him, but he seemed indifferent to it all. He looked thoroughly woe- begone ; he was surely doomed ; if the sea did not get him, the cat would. Presently he stopped GRAYMALKIN OUTWITTED 35 backing when only six inches from the edge and, pulling himself together, tried to think of a way of escape. But he found it difficult to think under the eyes of the brute crouching there. His best chance was to swim to Genvor Beach, but this never entered his head ; the bewildered fellow was debating as best he could whether it was better to spring over the cat or dodge her. Had it not been for the bunch of seaweed at the very spot on which he would alight he would have tried the spring ; but in the circum- stances he decided to risk all on the zigzag ruse, at which he was an adept, having played it with his sister on the green. Like an arrow from a bow he shot forward as if he meant to pass to the right of the Cat ; as soon as his pads touched the rock, like lightning he swerved to the left ; then he shot ahead again and so got away without a scrg,tch. The cat, thoroughly outwitted, had sprung for the place where she had supposed the hare would be ; but she sprang at the air and fell into the sea. Almost immediately a wave washed her on the rocks, and there she stood silent while, with eyes like living coals, she watched the jack disappear over the dunes. The terrified fellow ran for two miles along his mother's trail without halting; then coming to 36 THE MAGPIES PUZZLED some briers he stopped to nibble the shoots, for he was very hungry. He would have stayed longer than he did had not the rosy foreglow in the sky warned him to be off. So again he took to the trail and hurried along at his best pace, scaring the boy at Brea Farm, who took him for a pixie, as he whisked past the gap on his way to the Fairies' Green, where for an hour or more his mother and sister had been sitting in their forms. The magpies saw him coming, but chattered no reproach to the belated creature ; though to a fox cub they would have shown no mercy. After he had made his toilet,- enjoying the taste of the salt water, he sat moving his jaws as if he were chewing the cud. He was really crushing some grains of sand, of which he had picked up a mouthful on the beach, and the curious noise completely puzzled the magpies, who tried in vain to locate it. The dew was being fast dried up by the sun before it ceased: then the slow regular rise and fall of his flank told he was asleep. That night the hare took the jack and his sister a way they had not been before. It led over Caer Bran to Boswarthen, where all three gambolled like mad things in the corn before going down the hill to Tregonebris. There, after feasting on the pinks in which the farmer's THE EVE OF SEPARATION 37 wife took special pride, they passed to the field of mowing-grass before the house and played on the heap of earth in the far corner, the hare joining in the frolics with a zest she had not shown since she led them up Bartinney. By this time the air, which had been oppressively close, had become more sultry than ever, till towards midnight the impending storm broke, zigzagging the inky sky with fierce lightning. Immediately the silence was rent by claps of thunder, and a torrent of rain followed which drenched the hares before they could gain the shelter of the hedge. When at length it ceased they galloped up and down the path leading to the house and dried themselves ; but they were drenched again before dawn. They looked a forlorn little band as they ambled over the fields in a downpour. Yet, miserable though their plight seemed, they passed a clump of brambles which at least offered a partial refuge; farther up the hill they passed another, more inviting still ; indeed they kept on as if regardless of all cover till they reached the summit of Caer Bran, where they sought seats under the furze mantling the slope of the outer of the earthworks that crown it. The wind blew, the rain pelted, but the high bank and domed roof protected them from all discomfort save that caused by the drippings of the sodden D 38 ALONE bushes. This the creatures endured through the long day without once stirring in their forms. The hare rose at her usual time, but instead of setting out forthwith as was her custom she went to where the jack lay and licked his face again and again, which she had not done since he was weaned. What was the meaning of this extraordinary display of affection? Was it to solace him for the severity of her schooling and growing coldness ? Not at all. It was to mark the moment of separation ; it was her last office to him ; it was her farewell greeting. The jack understood ; his behaviour showed it. For when presently his mother and sister set out, he, hitherto always the second afoot, remained in the form and watched them pass from sight. As the bushes hid them, he was on the point of rising to follow, but restrained himself and sat listening as if in expectation of the call. The low bleat for which he hearkened did not come ; there was no sound but the moan of the wind about the old earthworks. Then the seriousness of the position came home to him : his mother and sister had gone out of his life ; the freedom for which he had been yearning was at last his. Was he elated? Far from it. A sense of forlornness possessed him, but this was soon to be banished by the high spirits that surged through him and thrilled GOES HIS OWN WAY 39 his whole being. Whilst he sat addressing himself to the struggle before him the sky suddenly cleared, and where all had been black, stars shone in the steadfast blue. Then he arose, stretched his perfect limbs, and, after a glance along the trail, set his face for the farm-lands to which his mother had the previous night introduced him. CHAPTER III INDEPENDENCE The leveret's wonderful memory for country he had once been over enabled him to find his way straight back to the farm, where with timid steps he passed from enclosure to enclosure, exploring his domain. In his round he came on a field of clover, another of turnips, two of corn, pastures with sheep and cattle, and a pound with a donkey in it, familiar objects which served to make him forget his solitary condition till he came to the scene of the previous night's frolics ; then the thought of his mother and sister flashed across his mind: he became alive to his loneliness. But a voice within whispered, "Courage, courage, all will soon be well " ; at this he took heart and strove to forget the past as he resumed his way, observant of everything and alert to the many dangers of the night. In a field of mowing-grass and again in the HE CHOOSES A SEAT 41 oats he caught the rank scent of an enemy — luckily in time to avoid it and withdraw without being discovered. Now and again he stopped to nibble a bit of tempting- herbage ; but he did not settle down to feed until the small hours, when he returned to the clover. Here he remained till the first flush in the sky warned him he must seek a retreat in which to pass the day. Twice he made towards the gate as if he were leaving the field, as often retraced his steps, presently repaired to the spot where the clover was most luxuriant, and lay there. No sooner, however, had he sat down than he realised that the stems which shut out the sight of everything prevented him from seeing an enemy, should one approach. The lack of out- look troubled him : soon he imagined that he could hear the faint sound of a stealthy footfall. To satisfy himself that he was mistaken he kept raising his head and looking round until, unable to endure the misery any longer, he stole from the seat and hurried back to the highest part of the farm, where a hedge had taken his fancy as he had crossed from the barley to the oats. There, amongst the coarse grasses, beneath the fronds of a solitary brake-fern, he sat with his face to the dawn-wind, which played with his D 2 42 JOHANNA'S GARDEN whiskers, swayed the ears of the barley, and buffeted the smoke rising from the chimney of the homestead. The light was still grey, but b6yond the low roof of the byre the hills stood expectant of the sun, whose fiery disc soon bathed summit and slope with its richest rays. The conspicuous heights attracted the eyes of the leveret till the orb rose higher and made a glory of the dew on the leaves of the tree amidst the barley ; then the sparkling beads won and held his gaze ; later the tree itself so absorbed his attention that he seemed to be wondering what it did there. It certainly was a strange place for a tree, especially for a fruit- tree, though it was not strange to the people familiar with its story. The field, or rather a part of it, had formerly been a garden — it is still called Johanna's Garden ; and sentiment had caused the tree to be spared, though it interfered with the plough and attracted badgers who trod down the crop. The leveret had not been long in his form before one of these animals crossed the opposite bank, shaking the dew from the wild roses that festooned the creep, and made its way through the barley and the oats to the sett at the foot of the steep slope. Here a colony of badgers lived. The lane in the corn was their HIS NEIGHBOURS 43 highway, and the tree a convenient stretching- post, so that next to the crowing of the cocks, the scratching noise made by powerful claws was the most familiar noise of the grey dawn. Luckily the leveret had no fear of the badgers, no more fear of them indeed than of the long- tailed tit whom he watched coming and going with food for a brood of insatiable nestlings in the near furze-bush. The cries of the young tits, all eager for the food she brought, were at times the only sound that broke the silence of the sequestered spot ; there were days when scarcely a breath stirred, when the stalks of the barley were as motionless as the stem of the tree, and the shadow of the frond looked like a stain on the leveret's coat. He enjoyed the slumbrous peace, and revelled in the noonday heat that shimmered above the array of barley ears and veiled with a pearly haze valley and hills and all the land between. It was a delightful time, which in his innocence he thought would last for ever. He knew nothing of the ways of husbandry, of the harvesting of crops by the dwellers of the homestead, whence by day came shout and song, and where the strange light glowed in the early hours of foraging time. He did not know that man was lord of the earth ; as little did he realise that he himself was man's 44 THE BEES SWARM guest. His own view was quite dififerent. He thought that the clover, the corn, and the pinks grew for him, that fern and heather flourished to afford him cover, that hedge and hill rose above the level merely to furnish him withoutlook. He even thought that the sun rose to warm him, that moon and stars shone to light his steps ; and he found the world a most delectable place, despite the number of his enemies. A somewhat rude awakening befell him on the thirteenth day of his independence, when the field was invaded by the farm folk. Their coming, or rather their inrush, had nothing to do with the harvesting of the barley, which was yet green ; they were drawn thither by an incident of farm life that is attended with as much noise as human beings are capable of making. The hubbub broke out near the house some two furlongs away. Even at that distance the din was dis- quieting, but it grew louder and louder and caused the leveret more and more perturba- tion. Whilst he wondered what it all meant, a swarm of bees came flying over the hedge and settled on the tree. In less than a minute three boys, two men, and a woman came tumbling pell-mell over the hedge, shouting " Brownie, Brownie," and beating frying-pans and milk-pails. The boy who led soon espied BETTY'S INTERVENTION 45 the cluster of bees hanging to the branch, and cried, " Here they are, faither, fastened on the old medlar-tree." "Th — that's lucky, lad," replied the father breathlessly as his face showed above the hedge, " I feared we'd seed the laist of 'em. Go and fetch a skep and my hat, and don't forget the bellows, for I've hardly a brith left in me. But, dang me," he added angrily, on sighting the lane in the barley, " what a mess they badgers have made of the corn. It's all through that theer tree, and down it shall come." " What, Johanna's tree ? Cut down Johanna's tree? You'll do nawthin' of the kind, maister. 'Twas her pride, good soul, so I've heered granny say. Cut it down ? Why, 'twould be enough to make her turn in her grave, and perhaps visit 'ee, who do knaw? And only think a minit, you'd have lost that swarm of bees, and a handsome swarm it is. Iss fay, and worth a bra bit ; 'a swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon,' and you'd have lost it if the tree hadn't been theere." " Well, well, Betty, most likely you're right. I never looked at it that way." "Ah, maister, it don't take much to make people forget their obligations." " Now, now, Betty, have Jone, theere's a good 46 THE TREE SPARED woman ; I spoke in haste. I'll never lay hands on Johanna's tree. And here conies our Jesse already. The lad's as fast as a hare, and if he's forgotten the bellows he's remembered the cloth to ground the hive on." Taking the skep, the farmer shook the bees into it and laid it on the cloth which Jesse had spread at the foot of the tree. " They'll do all right theere till the sun is gone, when I'll come myself and fetch 'em. Now let's make haste back and finish our fish and taties, or they'll be too cold to be worth eating. What do you say, Dick?" "You're right, maister, a cold pilcher ed'n much account, nor a cold tatie nother. I'd as soon sit down to a basin of sky blue and sinker,* and that ed'n sayin' much." With that, man and master, Betty and the boys quitted the field, leaving the hare to his reflections. The whole proceeding was a mystery to the timid wildling, who had kept to his seat notwith- standing Betty's shrill voice and gesticulations. Some hares would have slipped away, but it was instinctive in him to lie close until found ; a trait of his strain which went far to explain the survival of his forbears amidst the gradual disappearance of their kind. But though satisfied that he was 1 Barley-bread and skimmed milk. HAYMAKING 47 not the object of the visit as he had at first feared, he was glad when the party went away and left him to solitude. The rest of the day was without incident, save that the farmer, true to his word, came and fetched the bees at sundown. The swarming of the bees and their capture was followed a week later by a further disquieting incident, the cutting of the clover. It quite took his breath away one morning when he reached the gate, to find the crop levelled and the look of the enclosure changed almost beyond recogni- tion : the hedges too had grown so much taller. The timid fellow shrank from entering the field ; indeed the presence of three rabbits feeding there would alone have sufficed to prevent it. On several occasions these very rabbits had shown themselves hostile and driven him off. Rabbits were by nd means plentiful on his beats ; he had not seen more than a score ; and as for hares, he had not only not met with one, he had not crossed a single trail. He was the solitary survivor of his kind, with enemies on every hand. Neverthe- less, confident in the protection which his wiles and speed afforded him, he enjoyed life to the full, roaming over the farms in the highest of spirits. But though he exulted in his powers he ran no 48 HIS WARINESS risks ; even the buck his father had not been so wary as he. Whilst feeding he kept to the middle of the field, where at frequent intervals he sat up and looked about him, first to leeward, then to windward, his nostrils working all the time, to assure himself that no enemy was near. Then he always slowed down when approaching a gate or creep, in order to learn by sight or smell whether a fox or one of the farm cats was lying in wait for him ; once he winded a fox and withdrev