and find some sort of shelter, a
cave or hole with a dry floor to it, out of the snow and the wind, and
there we'll have a good rest before we try again, for we're both of us
pretty dead beat. Besides, the snow may leave off, or something may
turn up."

So once more they got on their feet, and struggled down into the dell,
where they hunted about for a cave or some corner that was dry and a
protection from the keen wind and the whirling snow. They were
investigating one of the hummocky bits the Rat had spoken of, when
suddenly the Mole tripped up and fell forward on his face with a
squeal.

"O my leg!" he cried. "O my poor shin!" and he sat up on the snow and
nursed his leg in both his front paws.

"Poor old Mole!" said the Rat kindly. "You don't seem to be having
much luck to-day, do you? Let's have a look at the leg. Yes," he went
on, going down on his knees to look, "you've cut your shin, sure
enough. Wait till I get at my handkerchief, and I'll tie it up for
you."

"I must have tripped over a hidden branch or a stump," said the Mole
miserably. "O, my! O, my!"

"It's a very clean cut," said the Rat, examining it again attentively.
"That was never done by a branch or a stump. Looks as if it was made
by a sharp edge of something in metal. Funny!" He pondered awhile, and
examined the humps and slopes that surrounded them.

"Well, never mind what done it," said the Mole, forgetting his grammar
in his pain. "It hurts just the same, whatever done it."

But the Rat, after carefully tying up the leg with his handkerchief,
had left him and was busy scraping in the snow. He scratched and
shovelled and explored, all four legs working busily, while the Mole
waited impatiently, remarking at intervals, "O, _come_ on, Rat!"

Suddenly the Rat cried "Hooray!" and then
"Hooray-oo-ray-oo-ray-oo-ray!" and fell to executing a feeble jig in
the snow.

"What _have_ you found, Ratty?" asked the Mole, still nursing his leg.

"Come and see!" said the delighted Rat, as he jigged on.

The Mole hobbled up to the spot and had a good look.

"Well," he said at last, slowly, "I _see_ it right enough. Seen the same
sort of thing before, lots of times. Familiar object, I call it. A
door-scraper! Well, what of it? Why dance jigs around a door-scraper?"

"But don't you see what it _means_, you--you dull-witted animal?"
cried the Rat impatiently.

"Of course I see what it means," replied the Mole. "It simply means
that some _very_ care