226 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



in all his precarious little life. At last, with 

 hesitation, he worked his way up along the 

 bank, beneath the ice, to his own tunnel, and 

 scurried in all haste to hide himself in the 

 deepest corner of his burrow. And never 

 thereafter could he comprehend why nothing 

 more was seen, or heard, or rumoured, of the 

 great pike. 



