THE BAFFLING TRAIL 11 



would have it, she hit the true line. At once 

 she was all alive ; her brush, which had hung 

 lifeless, now wagged furiously, and at the sight 

 of her enemy's success the hare grew uneasy. 

 Slowly, very slowly, the vixen advanced along 

 the trail as if fearful of losing what had cost 

 her so much trouble to find. Anon she came 

 to the place above the clump of blossoming furze 

 where since the midday visit the hare had 

 woven another maze of tracks before coming 

 to the leaping-place by the form. On reaching 

 it the vixen tried to follow the trail as it had 

 been laid, but the criss-crossing it had received 

 so confused her that presently she lost patience 

 and made a short cast beyond. Here she 

 happened on a part of the trail where the hare 

 had returned on her foil, and on coming to the 

 spot near the ruin where it ended she actually 

 raised her mask as if she believed the hare had 

 taken wing and might be seen in mid-air. For 

 a moment she seemed to despair again ; but the 

 hunger caused by the night's bad hunting and 

 the thought of her five ravenous cubs goaded her 

 on ; she shook the dew from her coat and made 

 another cast. This took her within a dozen 

 yards of the spot where mother and young 

 squatted flat on the ground. It seemed that the 

 vixen must scent them ; had there been a breath 



