150 THE DEEP DRIFT 



ing the dip between, lay like a great white lake, 

 a drift which threatened to overwhelm him. 

 Face to face with this new danger he forgot the 

 foxes for a moment, but the instant he looked 

 back and caught sight of them bounding down 

 the hill, he flung aside his hesitation, plunged 

 into the drift, and put forth all the strength of 

 his limbs in an effort to reach the other side. 



Nearer and nearer the foxes came to the drift ; 

 they leapt into it without flinching, and began 

 to battle with the feathery mass, striving to over- 

 haul the hare now some dozen yards ahead. 

 It was a weird scene, that drift amidst the 

 hills, marked now by the glowing eyes of three 

 protruding heads, now by the tips of the ears, 

 now only by a slight flurry of the surface, 

 which showed where pursuers and pursued 

 struggled beneath, till, where the snow lay 

 deepest, there was no slightest sign of move- 

 ment, and it seemed as if all three had found a 

 grave. 



At last towards the farther side the points of 

 two ears showed, then two eyes ; they were the 

 ears and eyes of the hare, who had tunnelled 

 his way thus far, and was standing 9n. his hind 

 legs looking round to see where he was. Before 

 you could count three the head was withdrawn 

 and the hare again lost to sight, but presently 



