THE WEASEL 75 



few minutes when I heard again the rustle in 

 the dry leaves, and saw the weasel coming home 

 with another mouse. I observed him till he had 

 made three trips ; about every six or seven min- 

 utes, I calculated, he brought in a mouse. Then 

 I went and stood near his hole. This time he had 

 a fat meadow-mouse. He laid it down near the 

 entrance, went in and turned around, and reached 

 out and drew the mouse in after him. That 

 store of mice I am bound to see, I thought, and 

 then fell to with the heavy mattock. I followed 

 the hole down about two feet, when it turned 

 to the north. I kept the clue by thrusting into 

 the passage slender twigs ; these it was easy to 

 follow. Two or three feet more and the hole 

 branched, one part going west, the other north- 

 east. I followed the west one a few feet till it 

 branched. Then I turned to the easterly tunnel, 

 and pursued it till it branched. I followed one 

 of these ways till it divided. I began to be em- 

 barrassed and hindered by the accumulations of 

 loose soil. Evidently this weasel had foreseen just 

 such an assault upon his castle as I was making, 

 and had planned it accordingly. He was not 

 to be caught napping. I found several enlarge- 

 ments in the various tunnels, breathing spaces, 

 or spaces to turn around in, or to meet and chat 

 with a companion, but nothing that looked like 



