MAROONED 131 



ened, could do nothing but crouch against 

 the blind walls of the unrelenting house, 

 and let the snow whirl itself and pile itself 

 about her. 



And now, in her misery, she found her 

 food cut off. The mice ran secure in their 

 hidden runways, where the grass-roots on 

 either side of them gave them easy and 

 abundant provender. The rats, too, were 

 out of sight, digging burrows themselves in 

 the soft snow, in the hope of intercepting 

 some of the tunnels of the mice, and now 

 and then snapping up an unwary passer-by. 

 The ice-fringe, crumbling and heaving under 

 the ruthless tide, put an end to her fishing. 

 She would have tried to capture one of the 

 formidable owls, in her hunger, but the owls 

 no longer came to the island. They would 

 return, no doubt, later in the season, when 

 the snow had hardened, and the mice had 

 begun to come out and play on the surface, 

 but for the present they were following an 

 easier chase in the deeps of the upland forest. 



When the snow had stopped falling, and 

 the sun came out again, there fell such keen 

 cold as the cat had never felt before. Starv- 

 ing as she was, she could not sleep, but kept 

 ceaselessly on the prowl. This was fortunate 

 for her, for had she gone to sleep, without any 



