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Suddenly
an
unexpected
series
of
sounds
began
to
be
heard
in
this
place
up
against
the
sky
.
They
had
a
clearness
which
was
to
be
found
nowhere
in
the
wind
,
and
a
sequence
which
was
to
be
found
nowhere
in
nature
.
They
were
the
notes
of
Farmer
Oak
’
s
flute
.
The
tune
was
not
floating
unhindered
into
the
open
air
:
it
seemed
muffled
in
some
way
,
and
was
altogether
too
curtailed
in
power
to
spread
high
or
wide
.
It
came
from
the
direction
of
a
small
dark
object
under
the
plantation
hedge
—
a
shepherd
’
s
hut
—
now
presenting
an
outline
to
which
an
uninitiated
person
might
have
been
puzzled
to
attach
either
meaning
or
use
.
The
image
as
a
whole
was
that
of
a
small
Noah
’
s
Ark
on
a
small
Ararat
,
allowing
the
traditionary
outlines
and
general
form
of
the
Ark
which
are
followed
by
toy
-
makers
—
and
by
these
means
are
established
in
men
’
s
imaginations
among
their
firmest
,
because
earliest
impressions
—
to
pass
as
an
approximate
pattern
.
The
hut
stood
on
little
wheels
,
which
raised
its
floor
about
a
foot
from
the
ground
.
Such
shepherds
’
huts
are
dragged
into
the
fields
when
the
lambing
season
comes
on
,
to
shelter
the
shepherd
in
his
enforced
nightly
attendance
.
It
was
only
latterly
that
people
had
begun
to
call
Gabriel
"
Farmer
"
Oak
.
During
the
twelvemonth
preceding
this
time
he
had
been
enabled
by
sustained
efforts
of
industry
and
chronic
good
spirits
to
lease
the
small
sheep
-
farm
of
which
Norcombe
Hill
was
a
portion
,
and
stock
it
with
two
hundred
sheep
.
Previously
he
had
been
a
bailiff
for
a
short
time
,
and
earlier
still
a
shepherd
only
,
having
from
his
childhood
assisted
his
father
in
tending
the
flocks
of
large
proprietors
,
till
old
Gabriel
sank
to
rest
.
This
venture
,
unaided
and
alone
,
into
the
paths
of
farming
as
master
and
not
as
man
,
with
an
advance
of
sheep
not
yet
paid
for
,
was
a
critical
juncture
with
Gabriel
Oak
,
and
he
recognised
his
position
clearly
.
The
first
movement
in
his
new
progress
was
the
lambing
of
his
ewes
,
and
sheep
having
been
his
speciality
from
his
youth
,
he
wisely
refrained
from
deputing
the
task
of
tending
them
at
this
season
to
a
hireling
or
a
novice
.
The
wind
continued
to
beat
about
the
corners
of
the
hut
,
but
the
flute
-
playing
ceased
.
A
rectangular
space
of
light
appeared
in
the
side
of
the
hut
,
and
in
the
opening
the
outline
of
Farmer
Oak
’
s
figure
.
He
carried
a
lantern
in
his
hand
,
and
closing
the
door
behind
him
,
came
forward
and
busied
himself
about
this
nook
of
the
field
for
nearly
twenty
minutes
,
the
lantern
light
appearing
and
disappearing
here
and
there
,
and
brightening
him
or
darkening
him
as
he
stood
before
or
behind
it
.
Oak
’
s
motions
,
though
they
had
a
quiet
-
energy
,
were
slow
,
and
their
deliberateness
accorded
well
with
his
occupation
.
Fitness
being
the
basis
of
beauty
,
nobody
could
have
denied
that
his
steady
swings
and
turns
in
and
about
the
flock
had
elements
of
grace
.
Yet
,
although
if
occasion
demanded
he
could
do
or
think
a
thing
with
as
mercurial
a
dash
as
can
the
men
of
towns
who
are
more
to
the
manner
born
,
his
special
power
,
morally
,
physically
,
and
mentally
,
was
static
,
owing
little
or
nothing
to
momentum
as
a
rule
.
A
close
examination
of
the
ground
hereabout
,
even
by
the
wan
starlight
only
,
revealed
how
a
portion
of
what
would
have
been
casually
called
a
wild
slope
had
been
appropriated
by
Farmer
Oak
for
his
great
purpose
this
winter
.
Detached
hurdles
thatched
with
straw
were
stuck
into
the
ground
at
various
scattered
points
,
amid
and
under
which
the
whitish
forms
of
his
meek
ewes
moved
and
rustled
.
The
ring
of
the
sheep
-
bell
,
which
had
been
silent
during
his
absence
,
recommenced
,
in
tones
that
had
more
mellowness
than
clearness
,
owing
to
an
increasing
growth
of
surrounding
wool
.
This
continued
till
Oak
withdrew
again
from
the
flock
.
He
returned
to
the
hut
,
bringing
in
his
arms
a
new
-
born
lamb
,
consisting
of
four
legs
large
enough
for
a
full
-
grown
sheep
,
united
by
a
seemingly
inconsiderable
membrane
about
half
the
substance
of
the
legs
collectively
,
which
constituted
the
animal
’
s
entire
body
just
at
present
.
