immense masses of tangled underwood between, brambles and woodbine
twisted and matted together, impervious above but hollow beneath; under
these they could hear the bush-hens running to and fro and scratching at
the dead leaves which strewed the ground. Sounds of clucking deeper in
betrayed the situation of their nests.

Rushes, and the dead sedges of last year, up through which the green
fresh leaves were thrusting themselves, in some places stood beside the
way, fringing the thorns where the hollow ground often held the water
from rainstorms. Out from these bushes a rabbit occasionally started and
bounded across to the other side. Here, where there were so few trees,
and the forest chiefly consisted of bush, they could see some distance
on either hand, and also a wide breadth of the sky. After a time the
thorn bushes were succeeded by ash wood, where the trees stood closer to
the path, contracting the view; it was moister here, the hoofs cut into
the grass, which was coarse and rank. The trees growing so close
together destroyed themselves, their lower branches rubbed together and
were killed, so that in many spots the riders could see a long way
between the trunks.

Every time the wind blew they could hear a distant cracking of branches
as the dead boughs, broken by the swaying of the trees, fell off and
came down. Had any one attempted to walk into the forest there they
would have sunk above the ankle in soft decaying wood, hidden from sight
by thick vegetation. Wood-pigeons rose every minute from these ash-trees
with a loud clatter of wings; their calls resounded continually, now
deep in the forest, and now close at hand. It was evident that a large
flock of them had their nesting-place here, and indeed their nests of
twigs could be frequently seen from the path. There seemed no other
birds.