164 PASSIVE RESISTANCE 



hibited! What determined though futile efforts 

 they made to penetrate the hedgehog's defence ! 

 Blood was drawn, it is true, their heads were 

 smeared with it, but it was their own blood 

 which they licked before again falling tooth and 

 nail on the prickly ball. Their second assault 

 proving as unsuccessful as the first, they formed 

 a ring around the urchin, chattering to un- 

 nerve it and so cause it to unfold. All their 

 efforts were vain, the hedgehog was im- 

 pregnable to moral as to physical attack. 



But though the blood-curdling chorus was 

 wasted on the hedgehog, it so affrighted the 

 hare that he broke into a panic-stricken flight, 

 nor did he stop till he had reached the chantry. 

 There he stood listening for the cry he dreaded. 

 His apprehensions however were unwarranted, 

 the stoats were ignorant of his neighbourhood, 

 and on abandoning the hedgehog retreated 

 in the direction of the southern cliffs, slowly at 

 first but more quickly as the night grew old, 

 for fear of being surprised by dawn. 



A faint glow suffused the low east when 

 they reached Carn Boscawen, proceeded singly 

 along ledge after ledge to its sea-washed face, 

 clambered between the breaking waves up and 

 up the wet rock and finally crept into crevices 

 beyond reach of the spray. 



