38 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



Not one of them had seen that I was watching 

 them, and so their play went on. I said they were 

 playing like kittens. No, not like kittens, but like 

 little stuffed Teddy bears, or wabbly little lambs 

 on straw legs or wooden legs. Only the baby 

 skunks did not seem to have legs at all, so sawed- 

 off and stubby were they, so fat and round were 

 their little humpty-dumpty bodies. They fell over 

 the brier-vines ; they fell over the stones ; they fell 

 over each other ; they fell over their paws ; they fell 

 over their very shadows it seemed. Their only 

 way of getting up was by tumbling down; and if 

 they wanted to go to this spot or that their surest, 

 quickest way was just to upset and tumble there. 



But it was real play, as real play as your prison- 

 ers' base or duck-on-davy. Yet it differed from 

 your play because it was silent. Suppose you all go 

 out at recess and try a game of hocky or wood-tag 

 without making a single sound. With lips shut, 

 and on your toes, try to scurry about, your eyes 

 keen to watch for something that is going to gob- 

 ble you up; your ears keen to hear him coming. 

 Suddenly some one holds up a warning finger, and 

 instantly you dive in the schoolhouse or " freeze" 

 in your tracks. Do you think you could do it I 



Think of having to play without any noise! 



