238 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



told her that they were a good half-hour 

 old. She followed them down to the water's 

 edge, out on to the rock, and across the 

 torrent. Then she lost them. 



When her mate arrived, crouching prudently 

 behind a thick fir-bush to reconnoitre before 

 he sprang out into the grass, she was bound- 

 ing frantically from one side of the stream 

 to the other, her enormously thick tail up- 

 stretched stiffly, as a sort of rudder, through 

 the course of each prodigious leap. For a 

 moment or two the pair put their heads 

 together, and the mother, apparently, suc- 

 ceeded in conveying the situation to her 

 mate in some singularly laconic speech. 

 Almost at once, as it seemed, their plans 

 were completed. The two started down- 

 stream, one along each bank. A couple of 

 minutes more, and the man's trail was picked 

 up by the female. A low cry notified the 

 male, and he instantly sprang across and 

 joined her. 



It seems probable, from the female's future 

 actions, that the two bereaved animals had 

 now a fairly right idea of what had happened. 

 The absence of blood, or sign of disturbance 

 in the den or on the trail, conveyed to them 

 the impression that their little ones had been 

 carried off alive, because, to a wild creature, 



