HIS MOTHER'S ANXIETY 5 



Iambs, made the field-mice sit up and listen and 

 the leverets prick their waking ears. The far- 

 flung message that told of kindly weather and 

 plenty for man and beast cheered every living 

 thing that heard it : it cheered even the hare 

 as she sat and watched over her young, full of 

 misgivings for their safety. Their helplessness, 

 still more her own powerlessness to defend them 

 against enemies, stirred her deepest feelings, and 

 made her mothering instinct so much stronger 

 than that of the vixen laid up with cubs in the 

 croft beyond the wheatfield. She was haunted by 

 the dread of being bereft of them ; and incapable 

 of defence though she was, her fears kept her 

 ever alert and vigilant. She never slept. Even 

 when she drowsed her open, wakeful eyes saw 

 all that passed within their range — -the farmer 

 faring to his work and hastening to his meals, 

 the cows driven to and from the fields, the 

 pigs wandering up and down the lane, the donkey 

 browsing on the furzy waste by the common with 

 the large pool, and the geese who, towards sunset, 

 waddled from it to the farmyard gate cackling to 

 be penned, as if apprehensive of being carried 

 off by the hill-foxes that came and sniffed at 

 their door when man was abed. She noted 

 too the ravens as they winged by on their way 

 to the cliffs, and the kites as they soared high 



