The whole thing was now clear: the hare in the wire was a trap laid for the 'gips' whose camp was below.
The keeper had been waiting about doubtless where he could command the various tracks up the hill, had seen us come that way, and did not wish us to return in the same direction; because if the 'gip' saw any one at all he would not approach his snare.

Whether the hare had actually been caught by the wire, or had been put in by the keeper, it was not easy to tell.
We wandered on in the valley wood, going from bush to bush, little heeding whither we went.

There are no woods so silent as the nut-tree; there is scarce a sound in them at that time except the occasional rustle of a rabbit, and the 'thump, thump' they sometimes make underground in their buries after a sudden fright.

So that the keen plaintive whistle of a kingfisher was almost startling.

But we soon found the stream in the hollow.