nd then he was in the copse, and began to
walk down a broad green path, a road which wound in among the ash-wood.

Nobody said anything to him, it was quite silent, so silent, that he
could hear the snap of the dragon-fly's wing as he stopped in his swift
flight and returned again. Bevis pulled a handful of long green rushes,
and then he picked some of the burrs from the tall burdocks; they stuck
to his fingers when he tried to fling them away, and would not go. The
great thistles were ever so far above his head, and the humble-bees on
them glanced down at him as he passed. Bevis very carefully looked at
the bramble-bushes to see how the blackberries were coming on; but the
berries were red and green, and the flowers had not yet all gone. There
was such a beautiful piece of woodbine hanging from one of the ash-poles
that he was not satisfied till he had gathered some of it; the long
brome-grass tickled his face while he was pulling at the honeysuckle.

He clapped his hands when he found some young nuts; he knew they were
not ripe, but he picked one and bit it with his teeth, just to feel how
soft it was. There were several very nice sticks, some of which he had
half a mind to stay and cut, and put his hand in his pocket for his
knife, but there were so many things to look at, he thought he would go
on a little farther, and come back and cut them presently. The ferns
were so tall and thick in many places that he could not see in among the
trees. When he looked back he had left the place where he came in so far
behind that he could not see it, nor when he looked round could he see
any daylight through the wood; there was only the sky overhead and the
trees and ash-stoles, and bushes, and thistles, and long grass, and fern
all about him.

Bevis liked it very much, and he ran on and kicked over a bunch of tawny
fungus as he went, till by-and-by he came to a piece of timber lying on
the ground, and sat down upon it. Some finches went over just then; they
were talking about Kapchack as they flew; they went so fast he could not
hear much. But the squirrel was nowhere about; he called to him, but no
one answered, and he began to think he should never find him, when
presently, while he sat on the timber whistling very happily, something
came round the corner, and Bevis saw it was the hare.

She ran up to him quickly, and sat down at his feet, and he stroked her
very softly. "I called for you at the wheat-field," he said, "but