On hearing the condition of the willow boughs Oliver agreed as to the
cause, and said that they must remember to warn the Baron's shepherds
that the Bushmen, who had not been seen for some time, were about. Soon
afterwards they emerged from the sombre firs and crossed a wide and
sloping ground, almost bare of trees, where a forest fire last year had
swept away the underwood. A verdant growth of grass was now springing
up. Here they could canter side by side. The sunshine poured down, and
birds were singing joyously. But they soon passed it, and checked their
speed on entering the trees again.

Tall beeches, with round smooth trunks, stood thick and close upon the
dry and rising ground; their boughs met overhead, forming a green
continuous arch for miles. The space between was filled with brake fern,
now fast growing up, and the track itself was green with moss. As they
came into this beautiful place a red stag, startled from his browsing,
bounded down the track, his swift leaps carried him away like the wind;
in another moment he left the path and sprang among the fern, and was
seen only in glimpses as he passed between the beeches. Squirrels ran up
the trunks as they approached; they could see many on the ground in
among the trees, and passed under others on the branches high above
them. Woodpeckers flashed across the avenue.

Once Oliver pointed out the long, lean flank of a grey pig, or fern-hog,
as the animal rushed away among the brake. There were several glades,
from one of which they startled a few deer, whose tails only were seen
as they bounded into the underwood, but after the glades came the
beeches again. Beeches always form the most beautiful forest, beeches
and oak; and though nearing the end of their journey, they regretted
when they emerged from these trees and saw the castle before them.