nated me. They spoke of
possibilities few could see or appreciate as I could; possibilities of
a sylvan phantasmagoria enhanced by the soft and mystic radiance of
the moon. An owl hooted, and the rustling of brushwood told me of the
near proximity of some fur-coated burrower in the ground. High above
this animal life, remoter even than the tops of my beloved trees or
the mountain-ranges, etched on the dark firmament, shone multitudinous
stars, even the rings round Saturn being plainly discernible. From the
Milky Way my eyes at length wandered to the pines, and a puff of air
laden with the odour of their resin and decaying brushwood decided me.
I took a few preliminary sips of whisky, stretched my rusty limbs,
and, placing one foot in a jagged crevice of the wall, swarmed
painfully up. How slow and how hazardous was the process! I scratched
my fingers, inured to the pen but a stranger to any rougher substance;
I ruined my box-calf boots, I split my trousers at the knees, and I
felt that my hat had parted with its shape for ever; and yet I
continued the ascent. The end came all too suddenly. When within an
ace of victory, I yielded to impulse, and with an energy the desperate
condition of my skin and clothes alone could account for, I swung up,
and--the outer edge of the wall melted beneath me, my hands
frantically clutched at nothingness, a hideous sensation of falling
surged through my brain, my ears and eyes filled to bursting, and with
a terrific crash that seemed to drive my head and spine right through
my stomach, I met the black, uprising earth, and lost consciousness.

Providentially for me, I had pitched head first into a furze bush
which broke the fall, otherwise I must have met with serious injury.
As it was, when I recovered my momentary loss of consciousness, I
found that I had sustained no worse harm than a severe shaking,
scratches galore, and the utter demolition of my clothes! I picked
myself up with difficulty, and spent some time searching for my hat
and stick--which I at length discovered, lodged, of course, where one
would least have thought of looking for them. I then took close stock
of my surroundings, and found them even grimmer than I had
anticipated. Though the trees were packed closely together, and there
was much undergrowth, the moonbeams were so powerful and so fully
concentrated on the spinney, that I could see no inconsiderable
distance ahead of me. Over everything hung a solemn and preter