142 THE POLECAT AND THE OWL 



was clear before she tried to reach the retreat 

 that had taken her fancy. Presently she galloped 

 past the door of the cattle-house and made her 

 way to the top of the barn steps. There she 

 stood looking for a way in, and descrying a 

 hole in the shutter, she scrambled up and aslant 

 the mud wall till she gained it and squeezed 

 through. She had not long disappeared, how- 

 ever, when to the amazement of the hare, her 

 head was suddenly thrust through the snow cover- 

 ing the thatch, and the next instant she was 

 hurrying over the white surface to enter the 

 pigeon-cote. Now the cote was the home of 

 an owl. Scarcely had the polecat curled up 

 in it when the bird alighted on the sill, dis- 

 covered the intruder, and made such a to-do 

 that the polecat at once came out lest man's 

 notice should be attracted, her presence revealed, 

 and — the dread of her life — hue and cry raised. 

 In the circumstances she was for peace at any 

 price. Dashing past the owl she made down 

 the roof to the hole in the thatch, where she 

 struggled for some time to get through. At last 

 as the result of a desperate effort she forced a 

 passage to the barn, and so reached the yard by 

 the way she came. From the foot of the steps 

 she headed for the narrow passage by which 

 she had entered, but, instead of following it, she 



