By a
great stroke of luck we alighted in safety on a soft carpeting of
moss. Not a word was spoken, but, falling on hands and knees, and
guiding ourselves by means of a dark lantern Alec had bought
second-hand from the village blacksmith, we crept on all-fours along a
tiny bramble-covered path, that after innumerable windings eventually
brought us into a broad glade shut in on all sides by lofty trees.
Alec prospected the spot first of all to see no keepers were about,
and we then crawled into it, and, approaching the nearest burrows, set
to work at once with our ferrets. Three rabbits were captured in this
fashion, and we were eagerly anticipating the taking of more, when a
sensation of icy coldness suddenly stole over us, and, on looking
round, we perceived, to our utmost consternation, a very tall keeper
standing only a few yards away from us. For once in a way, Alec was
nonplussed, and a deathly silence ensued. It was too dark for us to
see the figure of the keeper very distinctly, and we could only
distinguish a gleaming white face set on a very slight and
perpendicular frame, and a round, glittering something that puzzled us
both exceedingly. Then, a feeling that, perhaps, it was not a keeper
gradually stole over me, and in a paroxysm of ungovernable terror I
caught hold of Alec, who was trembling from head to foot as if he had
the ague. The figure remained absolutely still for about a minute,
during which time neither Alec nor I could move a muscle, and then,
turning round with an abrupt movement, came towards us.
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