FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 125 
double trail entered the wood. The woodcraft 
of Garry Skehan was of a rough and ready sort ; 
for him wild creatures were divided into two 
broad classes those which could be trapped and 
those which could not but even he could tell that 
this was a rabbit run, and he chuckled over it. 
By and by he tramped away over the crisp snow, so 
softly that not even the drowsy pigeons overhead 
heard him. 
Many of the Fur Folk passed outside the wall 
that night, and each one stopped to look at the 
place where Garry Skehan had knelt and scored the 
surface with his clumsy boots. First of all a rat 
came along, trailing his naked tail callously on the 
snow behind him. He gave one glance at the spot, 
and then hurriedly crossed the wall lower down. 
By and by a stoat passed. It is not in stoat nature 
to resist a hole wherever it may lead, and this one 
gingerly thrust in his nose ; but at that moment 
he caught sight of something under his feet and 
drew back quietly. The mice came by and danced 
fairy quadrilles over the snow, but they also left the 
hole in the wall alone. 
As the moon rose higher the frost began to bite, 
and the snowflakes, which had hitherto dropped 
rhythmically from the branches, were welded firmly 
together ; while every leaf upon the ground was so 
