.

Its cry resembled the moan of a human being in distress; and its effect
upon the minds of our travellers, in the state they then were, was far
from being pleasant. They watched the bird with despairing looks, until
it was lost against the white background of a snow-covered hill.

They had noticed that the owl appeared to be just taking flight when
they first saw it. It must have risen up from the hill upon which they
were; and they once more ran their eyes along the level summit, curious
to know where it had been perched that they had not seen it. No doubt,
reflected they, it had been near enough, but its colour had rendered it
undistinguishable from the snow.

"What a pity!" exclaimed Francois.

While making these reflections, and sweeping their glances around, an
object caught their eyes that caused some of them to ejaculate and
suddenly raise their guns. This object was near the centre of the
summit table, and at first sight appeared to be only a lump of snow; but
upon closer inspection, two little round spots of a dark colour, and
above these two elongated black marks, could be seen. Looking steadily,
the eye at length traced the outlines of an animal, that sat in a
crouching attitude. The round spots were its eyes, and the black marks
above them were tips of a pair of very long ears. All the rest of its
body was covered with a soft white fur, hardly to be distinguished from
the snow upon which it rested.

The form and colour of the animal, but more especially its long erect
ears, made it easy for them to tell what it was. All of them saw it was
a hare.

"Hush!" continued Norman, as soon as he saw it, "keep still all of you--
leave it to me."

"What shall we do?" demanded Basil. "Can we not assist you?"

"No," was the reply, uttered in a whisper, "stay where you are. Keep
the dog quiet. I'll manage puss, if the owl hasn't scared her too
badly. That scream has started her out of her form. I'm certain she
wasn't that way before. Maybe she'll sit it out. Lucky the sun's
high--don't move a step. Have the dog ready, but hold him tight, and
keep a sharp look out if she bolts."

After giving these instructions, that were all uttered quickly and in an
under tone, Norman moved off, with his gun carried across his arm. He
did not move in the direction of the hare, but rather as if he was going
from her. His course, however, bent gradually into a circle of which
the hare was the centre--the diam