from the furrow, and then a loud,
rasping exclamation from the sportsman, but nothing more; no shot was
fired. She owed her life to several circumstances. The dogs were young,
and in strict training; their master, knowing the natural fondness of
"first season" setters for "chasing fur," had purposely refrained from
killing the hare, and had turned his attention to the behaviour of his
dogs. Then, again, he cherished a certain fondness for Puss, believing
her to be the most persecuted, as well as the most innocent and
interesting, of Nature's wildlings in the wind-swept upland fields.

Henceforward, but for one other incident, the life of the hare was
singularly uneventful till the early spring. That incident occurred
within a week of her escape from the setters, and once more her luck was
due to the humanity of him who had found her among the turnips. The
farm-lands frequented by the leveret were a favourite resort of many of
her kind, and when moving about in the darkness of the night she often
found signs of their presence near the gaps and gateways. The sportsman,
knowing well that after harvest the poaching instincts of the peasantry
and of the professional village "mouchers" would receive fresh stimulus,
determined to forestall his enemies, and render futile some, at least,
of their endeavours. So it came about that one night a keeper, assisted
by several of the guests at the "big house" in the valley, and having
previously made every preparation for the event, placed a net near each
gate and before each likely gap within a radius of half a mile from the
heart of the estate.

Unless hard pressed, a hare seldom leaves a field except by certain
well-known openings in the hedgerow. Unlike the rabbit, she will not
readily leap over any obstacle beneath which she can crawl; and whereas
the "creep" of a rabbit through a gateway or a hedgerow is well-nigh
invariably at right angles to the line of that gateway or hedgerow, the
"creep" of a hare tends sideways and is sometimes slightly curved. To
net hares successfully it is necessary to know their habits; and the
keeper, having served a lifelong apprenticeship in field-craft, was
prepared for every emergency. His object at this time was not to kill
the hares, but simply to educate them, to warn them thoroughly once for
all against the wiles of their worst enemy, the poacher.

As Puss was busily feeding in the dewy clover, she heard the quick,
continuous gallop of a dog.