CHAPTER VIII

  IN TRANSIT

  The eighth chapter is exceedingly brief, and relates that Gibbons,the amateur naturalist of the district, while lying out on thespacious open downs without a soul within a couple of miles of him,as he thought, and almost dozing, heard close to him the sound asof a man coughing, sneezing, and then swearing savagely to himself;and looking, beheld nothing. Yet the voice was indisputable. Itcontinued to swear with that breadth and variety that distinguishesthe swearing of a cultivated man. It grew to a climax, diminishedagain, and died away in the distance, going as it seemed to him inthe direction of Adderdean. It lifted to a spasmodic sneeze andended. Gibbons had heard nothing of the morning's occurrences, butthe phenomenon was so striking and disturbing that his philosophicaltranquillity vanished; he got up hastily, and hurried down thesteepness of the hill towards the village, as fast as he could go.