FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 71 
By and by a pale April moon rose, and Fluff- 
Button sat up for the tenth time to flick the dew 
from his whiskers. The bushes around him took 
curious shapes in the half-light ; and wander 
where he would among them, he saw no other 
rabbit. But suddenly his long ears sprang from 
the horizontal to the vertical, and his forelegs 
stiffened. The turf of the Sheep Field was firm 
and close, and carried the sound of galloping hoofs 
like a telephone. The sheep were on the move. 
Fluff-Button, used to their senseless panics, would 
have paid little heed had not the night air brought 
another faint taint to his nostrils. As it was, he 
hopped away slowly between two furze thickets. 
Almost before he could tumble aside the sheep were 
upon him, ewe and lamb jostling one another, while 
White-Lamb, who headed the stampede, leaped the 
bushes like a chamois. They rushed into a dense 
phalanx, and all stamped their fear and anger at 
something which was approaching them between 
the gorse bushes. Fluff-Button skipped round, 
and it was well that he did so, for there, not five 
yards away, stood Magragh's yellow cur dog with 
his tongue lolling out, and his wicked eyes on the 
sheep. The Night Longing had moved him and 
strange impulses stirred within him. He had 
forgotten all about his quiet domestic life, and his 
