Redruff 



under the broad veranda of their mother's 



tail. 



Brownie was a bright little mother, of small 

 stature, but keen of wit and sense, and was, 

 night and day, alert to care for her darling 

 chicks. How proudly she stepped and clucked 

 through the arching woods with her dainty 

 brood behind her ; how she strained her little 

 brown tail almost to a half-circle to give them 

 a broader shade, and never flinched at sight of 

 any foe, but held ready to fight or fly, which- 

 ever seemed the best for her little ones. 



Before the chicks could fly they had a 

 (cntV\ C9 meeting with old Cuddy ; though it was June, 

 y™£j &c£ he was out with his gun. Up the third ravine 

 he went, and Tike, his dog, ranging ahead, 

 came so dangerously near the Brownie brood 

 that Redruff ran to meet him, and by the old but 

 never failing trick led him on a foolish chase 

 away back down the valley of the Don. 



But Cuddy, as it chanced, came right along, 

 straight for the brood, and Brownie, giving the 

 signal to the children, * Krrr, krrr' (Hide, 

 hide), ran to lead the man away just as her mate 

 had led the dog. Full of a mother's devoted 



342 



