162 INVADE THE FARMYARD 



peril of famine because of the wariness and 

 scarcity of prey. 



In their straits they invaded the homesteads, 

 and on the fourth day of the thaw, when the 

 ice in the pools was the last vestige of the 

 frost, the starving brutes came pouring over 

 the wall of Brea farmyard and made straight 

 for the poultry-houses. 



Some sought the door of the fowls' house, 

 causing the rooster to shift uneasily on his perch ; 

 the rest circled the ducks' house without finding 

 a way in, for Andrew had stopped the holes in 

 the floor to which they penetrated. 



Thus baulked they entered the cattle-sheds 

 and barn, where in the dead silence they could 

 be heard rustling among the straw. Presently a 

 rat appeared on the roof and climbed to the old 

 weather-cock on the roof of the pigeon-cote. 

 Two stoats followed, but failed to trace him to 

 the forlorn refuge whence he was watching them. 



Half an hour passed thus in profitless search 

 before the leader, standing in the middle of the 

 yard, uttered a shrill cry. This rallied the 

 band to her, and the yard at once seemed 

 alive with the restless creatures darting hither 

 and thither in their impatience to be gone. 



They took little notice of the owl that glided 

 to and fro, screaming as it flew ; yet they were 



