156 GRIMALKIN THE CAT 
became fine and warm, and the rabbits used 
to come out of their burrows to take sun-baths. 
Three times Grimalkin saw the Collared Buck 
basking outside his hole above the glen, with 
his legs sprawled on the dry leaves, and his eyes 
blinking blissfully in the heat. Three times did 
Grimalkin then attempt to stalk his prey, and 
three times did the Buck take alarm, and hop 
underground with insulting leisure. The desire to 
circumvent the Collared Buck became an obsession 
with Grimalkin. He spent hours at a stretch 
watching the burrow mouth ; all in vain. He often 
caught a glimpse of the white collar, or saw the 
drooping scut flit into the bushes, but he never 
gave chase on these occasions, for he knew well that 
in a race he was no match for a rabbit, and that his 
skill in hunting depended less upon his legs than 
upon his patience. So the Collared Buck fed 
nightly in the fields, and arrogantly chiselled his 
mark upon the old willow tree which is the trysting 
place of the buck rabbits in spring, and upon which 
each sets the imprint of his teeth. 
Earlier in the autumn Grimalkin had lived prin- 
cipally upon the squirrels who squabbled among 
the beech-mast, but as the season advanced, Kout- 
chee, who, though a noisy meddlesome fellow, is 
no fool, grew wary, and the suspicion of a barred 
