130 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
' Thump ! ' It was a very feeble little sound, 
muffled by the soft snow. ' Again ! ' cried the 
stronger Angel, and summoning up all her strength, 
Cuni stamped again. This time Fluff-Button heard. 
Without as much as a glance behind, he bolted for 
the wall, leaped over his mate, dashed into the 
tunnel, and the scurry of his steps died away. 
The fox checked abruptly ; he knew that in the 
woods he had no chance against a cunning buck 
rabbit, and if Cuni had lain still perhaps all might 
have been well. Unluckily panic seized her, and, 
stamping again and again, she struggled for her 
freedom. The fox saw her and began to stalk 
anew, for there seemed something uncanny about this 
rabbit, and he dared not risk a rush too soon. Cuni 
forgot her pain, she forgot her fear and even that 
desire to live which is so firmly implanted in each one 
of the Fur Folk, in her overmastering rage at the 
thing which held her. With tooth and claw she 
attacked the peg round which the wire was twisted, 
but the frost had bound it firmly to the snow. Ah ! 
a last spasmodic jerk wrenched it up, and trailing 
a broken leg, Cuni crept into the wall free. Alas ! 
just the other side she was brought up with a jerk. 
The peg was wedged between two stones, and she 
was as much a prisoner as ever, although just 
beyond the fox's reach. She heard his stealthy pads 
