GRIMALKIN THE CAT 
159 
Grimalkin, and at that moment Redpad the fox 
came leaping upon his trail. The Collared Buck 
saw that he was in a trap. He was yet three yards 
from the bank when he jumped, but the force of his 
rush was with him and carried him into the drain. 
At the same instant the cat's claws tore his flank, but 
the smart merely spurred him to further efforts. 
He changed feet nimbly, and shot through the hedge 
far out into the field beyond. Grimalkin alighted 
on the ditch bottom in a smother of dead leaves, 
not three feet from the fox's nose. He put his 
back against the bank, and his eyes looked ugly as 
he breathed a menace. The fox stopped dead, and 
they glared eye to eye while one might pant a 
score of times. Then the fox dropped his eyes 
uneasily. He dared not face the great cat's scimitar 
claws in the narrow path, and he slid cautiously back 
in his tracks out of striking distance before leaping 
into the bushes. 
Grimalkin caught a rat and a bird that night, 
and at dawn went back to his lair. He licked his 
muddy coat dry, and being full fed and comfortable 
for the first time for many days, he sang a low song 
to himself, which made the little mice, among the 
ivy at the cave's mouth, cower and hide. 
But by and by the purring ceased, and 
Grimalkin, thoughtfully watching the dim 
