124 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



ment. So now, being ravenous from her 

 long fast under the sand, she slunk mourn- 

 fully away from the deserted house, and 

 crept along, under the lee of a sand-ridge, to 

 a little grassy hollow which she knew. Here 

 the gale caught only the tops of the grasses, 

 bending but not prostrating them ; and here 

 in the warmth and comparative calm, the 

 furry little marsh-folk, mice and shrews, 

 were going about their business undisturbed. 

 The cat, quick and stealthy, soon caught 

 one, and eased the ferocity of her hunger. 

 She caught several. And then, making her 

 way back to the house, she spent hours in 

 heart-sick prowling, around it and around, 

 sniffing and peering, yowling piteously on 

 threshold and window-sill, and every now 

 and then being blown ignominiously across 

 the smooth naked expanse of the verandah 

 floor. At last, hopelessly discouraged, she 

 curled herself up out of the wind, beneath 

 the children's window, and went to sleep. 



On the following day the gale died down, 

 and the salt-grass once more lifted its tops, 

 full of flitting birds and small brown-and- 

 yellow autumn butterflies, under the golden 

 September sun. Desolate though the island 

 was, it swarmed, nevertheless, with the 

 minute busy life of the grass-stems and the 



