AT first the boys kept to the main road, the hedges of which were decked with primroses intermingled with clumps of wild hyacinths—the bluebells of Devon; and myriads of scentless dog-violets, blooming amid moss which spread luxuriantly everywhere, as a tender green background for ferns and flowers. It was one of those days when the fresh beauty of spring-time yet lingered, though summer was near at hand. The air was fragrant with the scent of newly-turned earth, mingling with the delicate perfumes of primroses and hyacinths, and the whole world was full of budding life.
The boys had soon to leave the road for a narrow path, which led off to the right, and presently they were on the desolate moor, away from the green hedgerows. There were no flowers now but the yellow gorse, and no moss but the hoary lichen which clung to the granite stones and boulders, around which they picked their way. The heather was springing freshly at the roots beneath the dead brown crop of the preceding year.
"How hot it is!" Jack cried. "I wish there was a little shade! Oh, Theo, listen to that lark!"
Both boys paused, and gazed upwards into the cloudless blue sky, trying to discern the little songster as it carolled forth its glad melody, so full of joy, as though in thanks to the Creator for the gift of life.
"I can't see it! The sun dazzles my eyes!" Theodore said. "Oh, yes! there it is, ever so high up!"
"Yes, I see it!" Jack exclaimed delightedly. "It seems to be going higher and higher, right up to heaven almost! No, it is coming down!"
The glorious voice ceased as the lark fluttered gently down to the earth.
"I expect it has a nest somewhere in the heather," Theodore remarked. "Father says larks always build on the ground. Once I heard him repeat a piece of poetry about the lark, but I forget it. I never can remember poetry!"
"Wasn't it: 'Hark the lark at heaven's gate sings'?" Jack enquired; then, as Theodore nodded assent, he continued: "I was thinking of that when I saw it was right up to heaven almost. I wonder what its song means, Theo? Isn't it wonderful, a small bird like that should have such a wonderful voice? I expect God likes to hear it sing!"
Theodore glanced at his stepbrother's bright face, and laughed good-humouredly. Jack had such queer ideas he thought.