The Moles Out and About. 137 



their excited manner. Soon as in the open, the pursued 

 turned upon its pursuer in fiercBj angry fight. Their 

 mode of mutual assault, as described by the witness — a 

 reliable one — was more like that of pigs than anything 

 he could think of, repeatedly thrusting their snouts 

 underneath, then with a hoist upward, each endeavouring 

 to throw the other on its back. And, singularly enough, 

 the noise they made — for they fought not in silence — also 

 bore resemblance to the squeaking of young pigs, of 

 course with a diminutive volume of sound. 



Left to themselves, how long they would have battled, 

 or in what way the combat might have ended, cannot be 

 told. For it was brought to a termination by the plough- 

 man himself killing both combatants on the spot, though 

 not on the instant, as curiosity for a time restrained his 

 destroying hand. Though living all his life in a district 

 where moles abound, and spending most part of his time 

 in the fields where they are at work, he had never before 

 seen two of them together above ground, much less a 

 pair so engaged. Indeed, to see a single mole on the 

 surface — unless it be a dead one taken in a trap — is an 

 uncommon sight; and the spectacle of a combat between 

 them is so rare that one might live in the country all of 

 a life — or for that matter fi.fty lives — without ever having 

 an opportunity to witness it. I have never myself seen 

 such, and, besides that related, have heard of but one 

 other instance of it. 



To the ordinary Boglish labourer, the mole, or " hoont," 

 as sometimes called, is a creature to be killed on sight, 

 as rat, weasel, or snake j and, as soon as my man had 

 satisfied his curiosity, he brought the combat to a close, 

 with the lives of the combatants. 



Even this was done in a somewhat original fashion. 



