126 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
crisped with rime that it crackled under the touch. 
Fluff-Button and Cuni, having made a scanty meal of 
such bramble leaves and ferns as remained green, 
turned homewards. Cuni went first, for her mate 
dallied behind to scratch his whiskers against a tree 
trunk. She came to the hole in the wall and hopped 
inside, for among the stones and mortar was hollowed 
a little chamber. There was a thin wind blowing, 
which had drifted the snow against the opposite 
opening and blocked it up, but the drift was not 
thick, and crumbled away when Cuni thrust her 
nose against it. The field was a white blank, 
marked with inky shadows below the trees, and 
not a living thing was in sight. 
With one comprehensive hop Cuni alighted in 
the drift, and at the same instant something seized 
her hind leg. ' When in doubt, skip ! ' is the rabbit 
maxim, which she obeyed instantly, but she was 
rudely jerked back into the snow, and the grip on 
her leg tightened. She whisked round to see her 
foe, and behold there was nothing there. Cuni was 
terrified. She began to struggle desperately, but 
although the enemy's clutch tightened, there was 
nothing to be seen but a long strand of copper wire 
on the snow. Just then there was a rattle of stones, 
and Fluff-Button hopped through the wall. He 
noticed nothing amiss, and seeing that the snow 
