CHAPTER II 
THE STEALTHY DEATH 
IN September daylight and darkness are equally 
divided. The days are still and mellow, with a 
blue haze which clings to the shadows of the woods ; 
and at night the big moon rolls over the eastern 
mountains, and turns the fog in the valleys into a 
silver sheet. 
All through the warm nights the Fur Folk come 
and go through Knockdane Woods, for the men 
sleep in the Great White House and no one disturbs 
them. Strange things happen at night under the 
trees of which humans have no idea ; and one of the 
strangest of all in Knockdane is the tale of how 
Grimalkin the cat tried a fall with the Stealthy 
Death and escaped alive. 
For many months Grimalkin had lived a dual 
life, spending part of the day at the Great White 
House, but wandering back to the woods at night. 
But as time went on, and his strength and cunning 
increased, his visits to men became fewer and shorter, 
and his absences stretched into days and weeks. 
No cat will stay by the hearth in early summer 
when the young rabbits are out, especially when 
the blood of semi-wild ancestors runs in his veins. 
The keepers grew to recognise Grimalkin and to 
