A SINISTER INTRUDER 141 



as he had listened then, but there was not a 

 sound ; even the little stream had been frozen 

 into silence. So he fell to rolling on the 

 crisp surface, which crackled under him ; then 

 jumping to his feet, he scratched a pit in the 

 snow simply to get rid of the energy which the 

 nip in the air had excited. About midnight he 

 galloped off through the deep snow at a pace 

 that was surprisingly rapid, considering the 

 weight of the snow that clung to his fur. Soon 

 he was out of sight. 



Four hours later he repassed the cross on 

 his way home. The heavens were as resplen- 

 dent as ever ; Orion showed no sign of fading, 

 the Milky Way was still a path of splendour, 

 but the hamlet lay in gloom, and save for the 

 rocking of a cradle, was as silent as the hills. 

 In the homestead there was not a sound, and 

 as if afraid to disturb the quiet, the hare stole 

 noiselessly as a ghost to the form, where he 

 sat watching for the dawn without a thought of 

 sinister intrusion on the yard. 



Yet he had not been there long when the 

 cruel head of a polecat showed at the far corner 

 by the pigsty, whence it surveyed the enclosure. 

 She had not come for prey, she had come for 

 shelter, and her keen eyes were peering here, 

 there, and everywhere to see that the coast 



