which made it almost visible: all the trees seemed to stand in a liquid
light--the sunbeams were suspended in the air instead of passing
through. The butterflies even were very idle in the slumberous warmth;
and the great green dragon-fly rested on a leaf, his tail arched a
little downwards, just as he puts it when he wishes to stop suddenly in
his flight.

The broad glittering trigger-guard got quite hot in the sun, and the
stock was warm when I felt it every now and then. The grain of the
walnut-wood showed plainly through the light polish: it was not
varnished like the stock of the double-barrel they kept padlocked to the
rack over the high mantelpiece indoors. Still you could see the varnish.
It was of a rich dark horse-chestnut colour, and yet so bright and clear
that if held close you could see your face in it. Behind it the grain of
the wood was just perceptible; especially at the grip, where hard hands
had worn it away somewhat. The secret of that varnish is lost--like that
of the varnish on the priceless old violins.

But you could feel the wood more in my gun: so that it was difficult to
keep the hand off it, though the rabbits would not come out; and the
shadowless recess grew like a furnace, for it focussed the rays of the
sun. The heat on the sunny side of a thick hedge between three and four
in the afternoon is almost tropical if you remain still, because the air
is motionless: the only relief is to hold your hat loose; or tilt it
against your head, the other edge of the brim on the ground. Then the
grass-blades rise up level with the forehead. There is a delicious smell
in growing grass, and a sweetness comes up from the earth.

Still it got hotter and hotter; and it was not possible to move in the
least degree, lest a brown creature sitting on the sand at the mouth of