124 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
nevertheless many of the Fur Folk depend upon it 
for their water supply. To-night it was darned 
across with ice needles, and the silver ' cat-ice ' 
round the edge crackled under Cuni's paws. As 
she expected, Fluff-Button was seated on the 
other bank taking a tonic. In winter when the 
grass is sodden and tasteless, rabbits are seized with 
a burning desire for strong astringent food, and 
they often wander far from their burrows to seek 
rushes, or the dry bark of saplings. To-night 
Fluff-Button gnawed the knotted roots of the wild 
iris, and as their bitterness burnt his mouth and 
made him sneeze, his nose quivered with pleasure. 
On any other night Cuni would have kept at a 
respectful distance from her lord ; but to-night, in 
spite of the frost and snow, the Love Longing was 
beginning to awaken among the rabbit kind, and 
instinctively she felt that he would not repulse her. 
She approached him diffidently, and, instead of 
chasing her away, he merely glanced up and coughed. 
She squatted at his side and chiselled away at the 
iris roots, until the moon grew bright enough to light 
snow candles on every twig and bough. 
So busy were they that they never heard the 
footsteps of Garry Skehan, when, half an hour later, 
he crossed the snowy hill to Knockdane, nor 
noticed how they paused at the spot where the 
