Raggylug 



VIII 



Old Olifant had doubtless a right to burn all 

 those brush-piles in the east and south of the 

 Swamp and to clear up the wreck of the old 

 barbed-wire hog-pen just below the spring. But 

 it was none the less hard on Rag and his mother. 

 The first were their various residences and out- 

 posts, and the second their grand fastness and 

 safe retreat. 



They had so long held the Swamp and felt it 

 to be their very own in every part and suburb, 

 -including Olifant's grounds and buildings — 

 that they would have resented the appearance 

 of another rabbit even about the adjoining 

 barnyard. 



Their claim, that of long, successful occu- 

 pancy, was exactly the same as that by which 

 most nations hold their land, and it would be 

 hard to find a better right. 



During the time of the January thaw the 

 Olifants had cut the rest of the large wood 

 about the pond and curtailed the Cottontails' 

 domain on all sides. But they still clung to the 

 dwindling Swamp, for it was their home and 



134 



