FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  
t impossible, she had lain down, with wildly beating heart, on the floor of her hiding place. Her senses seemed to have forsaken her. Had she dreamed? Often, during the warm, quiet days of a bygone summer, while lying curled in a cosy litter of dry grass-bents--which she had neatly arranged by turning round and round, and with her sensitive black muzzle pressing or lifting into shape each refractory twig--she had dreamed of mouse-hunting and rabbit-catching; her body had moved, her limbs twitched, her ears pricked forward, and her nostrils quivered as the delightful incidents of past expeditions were recalled. And when, with a start, she had awakened, as some venturesome rabbit frisked by her lair, or a nervous blackbird, startled by her movements, made the woodlands ring with news of his discovery, she had retained for a moment the impressions of her vivid dreams. But never in her sleep had she been haunted by such a bewildering sense of mingled dread and anger, such an awful apprehension of the presence of men and hounds, as that which had recently possessed her. Now, however, all was mysteriously tranquil; the full-toned clamour of the hounds and the sharp, snarling bark of the terriers had ceased; no longer was she confined and jostled in the stuffy, evil-smelling sack that yielded to, and yet restrained, her every frantic effort to regain liberty. Her heart still beat violently, as though at any moment it might break; and she crept back towards the entrance, where she might breathe the free, fresh air. Suddenly she realised, to the full, that the day's bitter experiences were not a dream--the scent of the human hand remained on her brush, her fur was damp and matted with meal-dust, and, alas! her little ones were missing from her side. She was furious now; at all risks she would venture forth on the long, straight journey back towards home; her helpless cubs might still be somewhere under the bushes--perchance in sore need of warmth and food, and whining for their dam. With every mothering instinct quickened, the vixen crept down the slanting passages in the direction of a faint moonlight glimmer beyond. Reaching the end of the tunnel, she, in her impetuosity, thrust her muzzle into a mass of prickles--the "earth" had been stopped with a branch of gorse. Baffled for the time, she returned to the central chamber; then cautiously, for her eyes and nostrils were smarting with pain, she tried the other outlet, but
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110  
111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

nostrils

 

hounds

 

moment

 
rabbit
 
muzzle
 

dreamed

 
furious
 

remained

 

missing

 

matted


violently
 

liberty

 

regain

 

restrained

 

frantic

 
effort
 

entrance

 

realised

 

bitter

 
Suddenly

breathe

 
experiences
 

journey

 

thrust

 

prickles

 

branch

 

stopped

 
impetuosity
 

tunnel

 

glimmer


moonlight

 

Reaching

 

Baffled

 

smarting

 

outlet

 

cautiously

 

returned

 

central

 

chamber

 

direction


helpless

 

bushes

 

yielded

 

venture

 

straight

 

perchance

 
instinct
 

mothering

 

quickened

 

passages