Part 21 (1/2)

”Great, great.” My colleague ordered two more pints. ”We'll go up to Steadforth woods. I've built a hide there.”

”Steadforth woods? Surely there aren't any deer in there.”

Calum gave me a secret smile. ”Oh yes, there are-lots of them.”

”Well, it's a funny thing. I've pa.s.sed them a thousand times. I've walked my dogs through them, but I've never seen a trace of a deer.”

”You'll see some tomorrow. Just you wait.”

”Okay. When do we start?”

He rubbed his hands. ”I'll pick you up at three o'clock.”

”Three o'clock! As early as that?”

”Oh yes, we've got to be up there before daybreak.”

As I finished my second pint the whole thing seemed pleasantly attractive. Up and away before the dawn to plumb the secrets of the woods. I couldn't understand my previous misgivings.

I felt different next morning when the alarm blasted in my ear at 2:45 A.M. Years of being jerked from slumber in the small hours had bred in me a fierce love of my bed, and here I was deliberately quitting the warm nest to drive out into the cold darkness and sit in a wood just for fun. I must be mad.

When I met Calum it was clear he didn't share my feelings. He was bubbling with enthusiasm and he laughed as he thumped me on the shoulder. ”You're going to love this, Jim. I've really been looking forward to doing this with you.”

I s.h.i.+vered as I got into his car. It was bitterly cold and the front street was like a pitch-black well. I huddled in the seat and Calum drove away, whistling.

He kept up a bright chatter on the way and it was easy to see that this was him in his natural element, roaming the countryside while the world was asleep, but after we had covered a few miles I knew something was wrong.

”Hey,” I said. ”This isn't the way to Steadforth woods; we should have taken a left turn back there.”

He turned to me with a smile. ”We're going another way. My hide is at the far end of the woods, a long way from the main road. We get to it from Fred Welburn's farm.”

”Fred Welburn's! My G.o.d, we'll have to walk about two miles!”

”Don't worry. I've arranged transport.”

”Transport...? What are you talking about?”

Calum giggled. ”You'll see.”

We left the car near the farm, which was perched on high ground from which the field stretched away down a steep slope to a stream before rising again towards the edge of the distant woods. It was still dark and I knew this only from memory. Bewildered, I wondered about the transport.

Calum reached into the back of the car and produced a bucket of corn.

I stared at him. ”What's that for?”

”It's for the horses.”

”Horses?”

”Yes. I'm going to tempt those two horses over to us so that we can ride them down into the woods.”

”What! You never said anything about that!” I burst out.

He smiled rea.s.suringly. ”Oh, it's all right. It'll make everything much easier.” He rattled his bucket and my mouth fell open as two enormous s.h.i.+res came trotting out of the gloom, their great hooves thudding on the gra.s.s.

”This is crazy!” I stared in disbelief at the animals. I was no equestrian, especially when it came to barebacked carthorses. ”We can't ride those b.l.o.o.d.y things! And what about Fred Welburn? What's he going to say?”

”All taken care of. I've got permission from Fred to use them whenever I want them. Come on, now, I'll give you a leg up.”

I was still protesting when he hoisted me onto the nearest animal and scrambled onto the other. He dug in his heels, gave a joyous whoop, and before I knew what was happening we were thundering down the gra.s.sy slope.

”Hang on,” cried Calum. ”There's a beck at the foot of the hill.”

He didn't have to tell me. I was hanging on as never before, gripping the mane tightly, eyes popping, absolutely certain that, within seconds, I would be cast from the great smooth back into the outer darkness. But somehow I kept my seat as our mounts leaped the stream like steeplechasers, then we were off again, galloping up the hill on the other side.

We were going at a terrifying pace, but it didn't seem to be fast enough for Calum, who kept yelling encouragement at his steed. Dimly ahead, I saw him hurtling through a narrow gateway and I suffered a moment's panic at the certain thought that my fat animal would never get through that opening. I was partly right because the gatepost caught my knee such a fearful whack that I thought my leg had been torn off.

We made a hectic traverse of another long field, then my colleague pulled up and dismounted.

”My, that was great!” he breathed as I slithered, groaning, onto the gra.s.s. ”But you're lame-what's wrong?”

”Cracked my knee on the gate back there,” I grunted as I hobbled around, rubbing the painful joint.

”Oh, sorry about that, but it saved us a long walk. We're right up to the woods now.”

We climbed a fence and he led me among the dark trunks to his hide, which he had built near a clearing. In the first pale light I could see that it was a well-hidden place, carefully constructed of branches of larch and spruce and tufts of gra.s.s.

”Sit here,” whispered my colleague. He was clearly in a state of high excitement, his eyes wide, a half smile on his face.

We hadn't long to wait. As the dawn light filtered through the branches, there was a rustling and a sound of movement among the trees, then, one by one, the deer began to appear in the clearing. Through all the years, I had never seen a deer in these woods but they were there in profusion; gentle does and majestic, antlered stags pacing around, cropping the gra.s.s. It was a scene of indescribable peace and beauty, and with the feeling that I was a privileged observer I sat there enthralled, all my discomforts forgotten. There was a badger sett nearby and Calum pointed in delight as his favourite animals came out to play with their young.

Afterwards we walked through the scented silence of the woods, the pine needles soft under our feet, and he talked, not only about the deer, but about the other wild creatures of the forest and about the plants and flowers that flourished in those secret places. He seemed to know it all and I began to understand the depths of the interest that coloured his entire life. He held the key to a magic world.

As we reached the field the sun came out and, looking back, I could see long drifts of bluebells among the dark boles of the trees, and in the glades, where the first rays struck through the branches, primroses and anemones shone like scattered jewels.

By the time we had ridden back up the hill-slowly and gently at my request-and had limped to the car, my knee had stiffened up and I groaned as I dragged my leg inside.

”Oh, bad luck about your knee.” Calum gave me a sympathetic smile, then his expression changed. ”But never mind, I've got a surprise for you.”

I could feel my eyes narrowing to slits as I looked at him. ”What kind of surprise?”

He grinned widely. ”I want you to come to dinner with me.”

”Dinner? Where?”

”In my flat. You know Helen's going to a meeting tonight and she was to leave you something to eat. Well, I've arranged it with her. I'm going to give you a meal. We're having roast duck.”