STOATS 129 



of his longest leaps, he squatted some dozen 

 yards from the medlar. 



Yet, carefully as he had concealed his 

 approach, he could not conceal his person. 

 Indeed, he looked very conspicuous on the 

 surface, which, if not quite flat, was only slightly 

 wavy from the ridge and furrow beneath. Per- 

 haps he knew that snow threatened, and relied 

 on it to hide him. However that may be, the 

 flakes began to fall thickly soon after he had 

 settled down, and when they ceased he was as 

 effectually covered as he had been on the hill. 

 Then the sun came out, turning countryside and 

 garden into a glittering fairyland. 



The resplendent enclosure se'emed to be cry- 

 ing out for some creature to enjoy its delights, 

 when suddenly, without a sound to announce 

 their approach, two full-grown stoats appeared 

 on the wall by the badgers' creep and stood 

 looking down at the snow. They were not 

 seeking the tracks of the hare, they were not 

 hunting, they were abroad simply for the snow, 

 and the next instant they sprang to the ground 

 and began rolling over one another, uttering a 

 happy chuckling noise the while. On separating 

 they wallowed in the snow, as if they could 

 not get enough of the joy of it. But all at 

 once they rose to their feet, raised their long 



