Pagina 184 di 788

Alas! all the charms and graces of this picture vainly awaited

experts to appreciate them; no one heeded them, so deeply were

all engrossed in the gathering of mushrooms. But Thaddeus heeded

them and kept glancing sideways; and, not daring to go straight

on, edged along obliquely. As a huntsman, when, seated between

two wheels beneath a moving canopy of boughs, he advances on

bustards; or, when approaching plover, he hides himself behind

his horse, putting his gun on the saddle or beneath the horse's

neck, as if he were dragging a harrow or riding along a boundary

strip, but continually draws near to the place where the birds

are standing: even so did Thaddeus steal forward.