THE PATTER OF FEET 57 



impatient was the leveret, who already after a 

 two nights' absence was longing for a feast of 

 clover. With the peeping of the stars he 

 sprang from the form, leapt the stream at the 

 inflow, and gaining the crest of the hill, made 

 over the upland almost straight as a crow flies 

 for his destination. 



He was in the highest of spirits ; the nearer 

 he came to the field the more determined he was 

 to show fight to the rabbits should they combine 

 to drive him from it. The thought never entered 

 his head that any other creatures would intervene 

 between him and his feast, much less that before he 

 could reach the feeding-ground he would be turned 

 into a terror-stricken fugitive ; yet so it proved. 



On, on he sped until he reached the pasture 

 adjoining the clover ; he was within a stone's 

 throw of the gate when he heard the patter of 

 feet on the other side of the hedge ; his curiosity 

 was arou'sed, and he stood still to see the creatures 

 pass the gap a dozen yards to his rear. He 

 expected to view a troop of rats, of which he had 

 met many in the standing corn ; to his horror it 

 proved to be a family of polecats, moving so 

 slowly in single file that, though there were only 

 six in all, he thought the procession would never 

 come to an end. All peered through the gap ; 

 the last actually stopped and scrutinised the 



£ 2 



