word of respect for his friend the keeper, till one day, as I said at
the beginning, death came upon him painlessly under that very tree,
while the cuckoo sang in the distance, and the chiff-chaffs two notes
echoed from the sunny end of the wood. How he came to know what happened
to Mr. Pogson and the pigs is more than I can tell; probably the owls
told it to him, or it may be that the conscience-stricken pig-dealer
revealed to him alone the story, as to one who understood, as none else
did, the mysteries of Truerne wood.
However that may be, it is certain that the enemy never again invaded
his paradise. The owls were never disturbed, and by some mysterious
agency the placard disappeared almost at once from the barber’s window.
Mr. Pogson never passed through the wood again, and finding that
distorted versions of his adventures were abroad in Highfield (where
they are still told with relish by the winter fireside), he removed to a
village some miles away, a milder and more merciful man. Mr. Weekes too
was not long in giving up his farm, and disappearing entirely from the
neighbourhood. In peace the owls and Oliver lived out their days under
the grave but kindly guardianship of Mr. McNab the keeper; and when I
last passed through the wood it showed no signs of the presence of the
Philistine.
THE END.
[Illustration]
R. CLAY AND SONS, LTD., BREAD ST. HILL, E.C., AND BUNGAY SUFFOLK
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Local name for fieldfare.
[2] The valley of the Colne in the Cotswold Hills.
[3] Swindon.
[4] The London and Bristol road in the Kennet Valley west of
Marlborough.
[5] Pewsey Vale.
[6] Salisbury Plain.
[7] A fact.