t this
wild bivouac.

Descending again by the footpath, the spur of the hill yonder looks
larger and steeper and more ponderous in the mist; it seems higher than
this, a not unusual appearance when the difference in altitude is not
very great. The level we are on seems to us beneath the level in the
distance, as the future is higher than the present. In the hedge or
scattered bushes, half-way down by the chalk-pit, there grows a
spreading shrub--the wayfaring tree--bearing large, broad, downy leaves
and clusters of berries, some red and some black, flattened at their
sides. There are nuts, too, here, and large sloes or wild bullace. This
Ditchling Beacon is, I think, the nearest and the most accessible of the
southern Alps from London; it is so near it may almost be said to be in
the environs of the capital. But it is alone with the wind.

THE SOUTHDOWN SHEPHERD

The shepherd came down the hill carrying his greatcoat slung at his back
upon his crook, and balanced by the long handle projecting in front. He
was very ready and pleased to show his crook, which, however, was not so
symmetrical in shape as those which are represented upon canvas. Nor was
the handle straight; it was a rough stick--the first, evidently, that
had come to hand.

As there were no hedges or copses near his walks, he had to be content
with this bent wand till he could get a better. The iron crook itself he
said was made by a blacksmith in a village below. A good crook was often
made from the barrel of an old single-barrel gun, such as in their
decadence are turned over to the bird-keepers.

About a foot of the barrel being sawn off at the muzzle end, there was a
tube at once to fit the staff into, while the crook was formed by
hammering the tough metal into a curve upon the anvil. So the gun--the
very symbol of destruction--was beaten into the pastoral crook, the
emblem and implement of peace. These crooks of village workmanship are
now subject to competition from the numbers offered for sale at the
shops at the market towns, where scores of them are hung up on show, all
exactly alike, made to pattern, as if stamped out by machinery.

Each village-made crook had an individuality, that of the
blacksmith--somewhat rude, perhaps, but distinctive--the hand shown in
the iron. While talking, a wheatear flew past, and alighted near the
path--a place they frequent. The opinion seems general that wheatears
are not so numerous as they used to b