58 PARALYSED 



leveret, but concluding that he was one of the 

 many stones that littered the ground, galloped off 

 after the others. It was a narrow escape, for had 

 the leveret raised head or ears he must have been 

 recognised and have drawn the bloodthirsty crew 

 upon him. 



The sight of the polecats had so frightened 

 him that he was incapable of movement ; it was 

 some minutes before he had sufficiently recovered 

 to continue on his way. Near the gate he 

 stopped and looked back, and once more after 

 entering the field, but without seeing a sign of 

 the enemy. Then he cast his eyes vaguely 

 over the field, the goal of his longing. Not a 

 rabbit was to be seen ; the patch of uncut 

 clover looked most tempting. Did he hasten 

 to nibble the succulent leaves ? Not at all : he 

 never went near them ; he moved away, urged 

 by the impulse to put as great a distance 

 as possible between himself and the polecats, 

 for he felt sure they would follow his trail. 

 All at once he broke into a panic - stricken 

 flight, and kept it up as far as the barley-field, 

 which had been cut in his absence. On the 

 hedge by the tit's deserted nest he stood and 

 listened with ears erect. He expected to hear 

 the whimpering chorus that he had once heard in 

 the valley below, the cry that would confirm his 



