THE REDWING 
trunk ; and then the soft crack of an egg which 
slipped over the rim of the nest-cup and was 
smashed. He also heard the stampede as the 
waiting rats rushed to the feast, and Spideogue's 
malediction upon them as the commotion woke 
him. At dawn, yelk still dribbled from the 
ivy ropes about the door and the throstle grieved 
until the sun was high. The smaller people 
who live in the hedge bottoms all hate and fear 
the rat because his status with the Fur Folk is 
not well defined. His teeth are as the teeth of 
the squirrel and rabbit expressly designed for 
gnawing or grazing, and yet he perverts them 
to the sucking of eggs and slaughter of nestlings. 
(The squirrel has also found out that flesh tastes 
good, but as yet he is not reckoned among 
the bloodhunters.) He slinks aside when cat 
or stoat is on the line, yet when they are 
gone, he hunts the frog and robin fledgling for 
himself. He is a pariah, hated by the small 
people and hunted by the great. Therefore 
he lives in colonies there is safety in num- 
bers and the rat villages are not good places 
into which to stray for any but the blood- 
hunters. 
That was the last day of April, and it rained 
warm driving rain which dripped from leaf and 
blade like balm, and buds and grass alike grew 
greener. New living things crawled among the 
163 
