'A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS' 



215 



amount of flesh on my bones — no superfluous fat, 

 mind you, but just a modest covering ; and I spent 

 long hours dozing in my nest and dreaming of 

 farmyards and well-stocked barns. 



Things soon began to mend when the snow 

 melted, for a farmer sowed some spring wheat in 

 a field near at hand, and I grubbed up a certain 

 amount of that, but eventually I changed my 

 abode, and took up my quarters in the far end of a 

 long pile of mangel- wurzels, which had been stored 

 up for the winter and covered over with earth. 

 They were beginning to uncover and use them at 

 the opposite end to mine ; but I kept a careful eye 

 on their progress, and by the time that it became 

 advisable to go elsewhere spring was in the air, and 

 food no longer scarce. 



Before I come to the great final scene, there is 

 one little adventure in my life which ought to find 

 a place in any chapter of accidents. It ended in 

 comedy, though it promised at one time to be 

 tragic enough. I forget the exact date, but the 

 time was summer, and I was living in an old cow- 

 shed in the fields, not far off a comfortable house 

 with a fine lawn. In that house there lived a big 

 black cat, with a couple of tiny kittens, which fact 

 was the cause of the trouble, and was also my 



