THE BANK VOLE 



the cage, but here she turned on number two 

 with such effect that it in its turn ran away. 

 Suddenly it dawned upon them that the bread 

 had disappeared, that which they were fighting 

 for had gone ! They stood for the moment 

 looking very foolish little mice, then they dis- 

 appeared into the nest. In a second or two 

 the squeaking began again ; they had found the 

 thief and what was left of the bread ! Out 

 of the nest he rushed with a bit of the bread 

 still in his mouth. Round the cage he ran with 

 his spoils, followed by the two females, who 

 had forgotten their quarrels and made friends 

 in their anxiety to revenge themselves on the 

 thief. Up and down they raced, the big vole 

 turning every now and then to squeak at those 

 which chased him, but his mouth being full 

 he could only make funny little muffled sounds. 

 The end of it all was that the bread fell to pieces, 

 and each grabbed a bit and ate it up. 



For many of their fights and quarrels there 

 seemed no reason at all, neither why they 

 should start or stop, so that I thought it was 

 just idleness and want of something better to 

 do ; in fact, I believe, they enjoyed it very 

 much. There were some more mice in another 

 cage next door to them, which also fell out 



29 



