THE "CALL OF THE WILD" 121 



of milk, I was wondering how they were to be 

 kept warm and comfortable. The problem was 

 solved by means of a basket, a soft piece of flannel- 

 ette, an old blanket, a hot-water bottle, and the 

 hot-air cupboard. In the meantime my family 

 made remarks and criticisms, which varied from 

 my brother's jeering advice, " You had better 

 take them to bed with you/ 1 to my mother's 

 despondent forecast of, " They will not live a 

 week, and it would be far kinder to put them 

 out of their misery ; "' but they all took great pains 

 to help me, and without their assistance I should 

 never have succeeded in rearing " Toby," as the 

 vixen was named. 



The cubs required endless attention. To begin 

 with I fed them every two hours, the last meal 

 in the evening being between 9.0 and 9.30, 

 and the first in the morning between 5.0 and 

 5.30. Thinking to save time and trouble in 

 the early hours of the morning, I one night 

 carried their basket into my bedroom, but about 

 two o'clock was roused by their whimpering. 

 Turning over sleepily, I said to myself that the 

 cubs would have to wait until daybreak, but they 

 had no intention of doing so, and the whining 

 rose to almost a shriek ! Despairing of sleep, I 

 had to get up, go downstairs, light the spirit- 

 lamp, heat some milk, and feed them, after which 

 they cuddled up together against their hot bottle 

 and went to sleep again. I got back into bed 

 wondering whether, after all, rearing fox-cubs 

 was worth the trouble. 



