IN WEASEL WOOD (LAMMAS DAY)

Again the Fox Cub was puzzled. His muzzle wrinkled dubiously, his ears twitched and puckered, he barked (a new accomplishment), he mewed (a newer habit still), and then, since sound proved futile, he sank from his hindquarters forward slowly, grounded his nose between his paws and stared.

This was the queerest happening of all. Queerer than the briar's queer flutter; and the shower of pink petals from it; and the glint of savage little eyes half-way up it; and the savage little chestnut face behind them. Queerer than the scream from the sky; and the rotten elm-branch dancing bough to bough; and cannoning against the trunk; and shattering at his feet. Queerer than the swish through the nettlebed—swish of a purple snaking shadow, which might have been mere bird, had the trail of it been clumsier, or its ripple more fretful.

Again the Fox Cub was Puzzled

Birds he had known since teething. Mother had brought them often; Father less often—scraggy, thin-necked, towsled things, yet mostly of fine flavour; finer than rabbits certainly (except quite baby rabbits); finer, too, than frogs; or lizards; or mice; or snails; or any of the myriad crawl-by-nights on which young teeth gain confidence.

The Fox Cub stared round-eyed towards the bracken. It certainly was moving—moving in waves which spent themselves abruptly, moving in spins and eddies. Now and again great swathes of it sank downward.

The Fox Cub froze to stone. His muzzle hardened; his ears drooped flat; only his tail (his brush was yet to come) twitched half in interest, half in apprehension.

The bracken started midway down the slope, in straggling, wayward patches. These quickly joined in an unbroken mass, and, on the level ground, gained full luxuriance. A cart-track twisted through them, half of it clear to eyes above, half intercepted.

Beyond, the ground crept up once more—bracken gave place to bramble, bramble to coppice, coppice to the sky.

The Fox Cub's eyes missed nothing.

Movement above he saw—the brown owl changing station. Movement upon mid-slope—the dormouse in the brambles. Movement upon the cart-track—the shrewmouse worrying snails. But these were mere diversions—their interest passed. The bracken furnished a besetting problem—movement inexplicable, sound inexplicable—long-drawn, wheezy breathings, snorts of exertion, sighs of content. There was scent also, heavy musted scent, which came in whiffs and dangled at his nose.

But for this scent he must have smelt the Stoat. The Stoat came dancing up the wind, passed by to right of him, and swung about. He held himself with an air, his body arched, one broad white pad uplifted, his tail curved decorously. From where he lay, the Fox Cub took his measure, then slowly reared himself and yawned. He, too, had teeth to show.

The Stoat's black tail twitched side to side. He met the challenge squarely. The Fox Cub sank full length again. The Stoat tiptoed towards him, and, stretching full-neck forward, nibbled at his fur. So was their peace established.

"Badger," whispered the Stoat, and danced from point to point excitedly, "Badger, grub-grub-grubbing."

HE SANK FROM HIS HINDQUARTERS FORWARD SLOWLY, GROUNDED HIS NOSE BETWEEN HIS PAWS AND STARED

A stunted patch of bracken burst apart, and from its cover lurched a broad grey back.

"He scents you," said the Stoat.

The Fox Cub still lay motionless. It was the broadest back he yet had seen.

"Should one run?" he whispered. This spelt sheer ignorance of the woods.

"Run?" said the Stoat. "Whoever ran from Badger but a rabbit? Badger is all benevolence. Badger is King. We run towards him."

"Who are We?" said the Fox Cub.

"We?" said the Stoat. "Why, Marten, Polecat, Stoat, and Weasel. Flesh-eaters All. All of one Brotherhood. Beasties Courageous. Squirrel is living up to us—he does his best with eggs."

"Squirrel is living up to us?" It was a cough and splutter from above and Stoat and Cub peered upwards. Squirrel sat twenty feet away, and stamped with indignation. "Squirrel is living up to us? My plumed tail! you wait till Squirrel grows."

The Stoat tiptoed towards Him

"Never mind him," said the Stoat, "he's silly."

The broad grey back had swung about, and Badger's head was lifted. Slowly it swayed from side to side, slowly it nodded.

"Where are his eyes?" whispered the Fox Cub.

"In his head," chuckled the Stoat.

"His head's a puzzle," said the Fox Cub—which, indeed, it was. Seen from above, and swinging to and fro, its clean-cut symmetries of black and white foreshortened in confusion.

"Wait till he fronts you," said the Stoat, and presently this happened. The head stopped motionless. A broad white stripe divided it; on either side were triangles of black; beneath was white again, and white tricked out the outline of each ear.

"He's black beneath," said the Stoat, "and grey behind—now you can see him."

Badger had backed a pace or two and craned his neck to snuffle. Ebon-chested he was and ebon-footed.

"Still I can't see his eyes," muttered the Fox Cub, but, even as he spoke, he saw them—steadfast, watchful, gimlet eyes, as black as their black setting.

"And now we all have seen you," said the Stoat. "Marten has seen you; Polecat has seen you; Weasel has seen you; I have seen you; and Badger has seen you. Fox Cub, you yet have much to learn in stealth. Go, make your peace with Badger."

"What have I done?" said the Fox Cub.

"You've come unasked," said the Stoat.

"I was brought," said the Fox Cub.

"That makes no difference," said the Stoat. "The wood belongs to US!"

"US! US! us!" the hillside caught the echo of it, and filled with sibilant voices.

"My plumed tail! You wait till Squirrel grows." "Never Mind Him," said the Stoat, "He's Silly"

"US-S-S-S-s-s!" it was the Stoat departing.

"US-S!" screamed the Squirrel, boldly, from his branch.

"You?" sneered the Fox Cub. "You simian rat! You fuzz-tailed, fish-eyed rabbit! Think of your teeth next time you wash your face."

The Squirrel stamped and spat at him. "Wait till I grow," he spluttered. "Wait till my head's as big as yours. Wait till I give up nuts."

"Oh, do be quiet," said the Cub. "I want to think."

"It might be worth my while," he mused. "I like this wood."

Badger was grunting softly to himself. His head still swayed and nodded. Now and again he scratched the ground before him. The Fox Cub rose up cautiously, and sat back on his haunches. He saw the whole of Badger now, the iron-grey back, the magpie head, the stumpy tarbrush tail.

He stole two stealthy paces down the slope, but checked as Badger squared himself. Two paces more—and Badger ducked his head, and charged full drive uphill at him.

The Fox Cub bolted straightway, turned sharp upon the hill-crest, ran half the length of it, slid headlong down the sand-cliff (the stones rattling about him), followed the ride for fifty yards, swung sharply to the right, and so, by some strange instinct, reached the gorse-clump.

Marten has seen You

He was quite badly scared. His tongue lolled dripping from his mouth; his sides heaved painfully; he felt that, come what may, he must lie down. So he squirmed, eel-like, underneath the furze, twisted himself about, and, with his head thrust outwards, snuffed and listened. He had outdistanced Badger—of that he soon assured himself. Yet there was something watching him, something whose curious stare he felt. His eyes ranged anxiously from point to point, dwelt on each tuft and hummock in the grass, dwelt long upon a jerking patch of moss, which in due course revealed a white-legged mouse, and in the end cast upwards.

Above him stretched a leafless branch of elm, and on its clean-cut, fretted edge a moving blur intruded—a blur which swelled and shrunk in steady rhythm, and twitched and wriggled forward in short jerks, so closely welded to the bark, so neatly matched in hue to it, that, but for movement, it had cheated sight.

The Fox Cub watched it furtively, his yellow eyes upturned. It checked, and from the end of it dropped a soft feathery plume, and hung and dangled lightly. Its lines were unmistakable, it was a tail. Then, as the Fox Cub gazed, the head took shape—a flat-browed, taper-muzzled head, with shimmery velvet eyes, which seemed to look beyond as well as at him.

Such was the Marten couched. Their eyes met, and he saw her rampant. She leapt from where she lay to where, six feet above, the branch forked double. Astride on this, her forefeet on the upper arm, her hind-feet on the lower, she faced about and screamed—

"Ai-yah-ai-ee! Ai-yah-ai-ee! A Fox! A Fox!"

The scream dropped to a whine, then to a bleat—"Huh-huh-huh-huh! Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh!"—then swelled into a scream again.

Out leapt the Fox Cub, impudent, and faced the music.

"The last part again, Marten," he cried. "Oh, please, the last part again!"

The Marten stared, mouth open "A cub!" she gasped; "not even a grown fox—a woolly, blunt-nosed cub."

"Do you know where you are?" she added, shortly.

"Yes, I do," said the Fox Cub. "The wood belongs to US. Marten and Polecat, Stoat and Weasel. Flesh-eaters All. All of one Brotherhood. Beasties Courageous. I hope I've got that right—and you all kow-tow to Badger."

"And where do you come in?" said the Marten grimly. His coolness took her fancy.

"The first good roomy hole I find," said the Fox Cub. "I like this wood and in this wood I'll stop."

"Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh," said the Marten.

"Quite so," said the Fox Cub.

The Marten snuggled down, her eyes a-twinkle.

"I know exactly the kind of hole you'd like," she said.

"Where's that?" said the Fox Cub.

"Listen to me carefully," said the Marten, "and you can't miss it. You know where the holm oak is—of course you don't. Look here. Get back on to the ride and follow that. It leads you to a hollow."

"It leads two ways," said the Fox Cub.

"You go downhill to the hollow," said the Marten, gently. "Right at the bottom you will find an oak-stump, and if you look inside it (which I don't advise), you will find a family of Polecats."

And perhaps you will be good enough to get higher up the Tree, while I come underneath

"Polecats?" said the Fox Cub.

"Yes, Polecats," said the Marten.

"Turn up to the left at the stump, and make for the silver birch at the top of the rise. The hole is close by that."

"Much obliged," said the Fox Cub, "and perhaps you will be good enough to get higher up the tree, while I come underneath."

"Certainly," said the Marten. From twig to twig she sprang, so daintily, so airily, that a mere flutter signalled her ascent.

"Will this do?" cried she from the topmost branch. Her forefeet hung on its extremity; her hind-feet curved and dangled; her tail twitched underneath her.

"That will do," said the Fox Cub. Before the words were spoken he was past the tree; before the Marten reached the ground he gained his stride, which was good going. The Marten checked at twenty yards. "I've done my share," she said, and sauntered up the tree again.

The Fox Cub quickly hit the ride, noted its slope, and keeping close in touch with it, slunk velvet-footed through the abutting cover. His pads dropped soft as thistle-down, he scarcely stirred a leaf, and yet the weasel, nosing in the brambles, got wind of him and squeaked. She was a five-inch weasel, too small to check his progress, yet large enough for mischief. Should she be silenced? He swung about—the scent of her still lingered—and in a moment he was on her trail. Three bounds and he had sighted her. She shot beneath a bramble-patch, issued where he had least foreseen, and tricked him in a maze of straggling roots. He worked back, sulky-faced, towards the ride, but checked ten paces from the oak-stump. Its tenant sat upon it—the purple, snaking, whiplash thing which had perplexed him earlier. Now he saw head to tail of it. The white-rimmed ears, the ochre-banded forehead, the bold eyes, spectacled with brown, the coarse brown-purple body-fur flecked here and there with streaks of shimmery buff—all these he took quiet note of, and presently saw many aspects of them.

The Marten had been right. The Polecat's mate came sneaking from the hollow, and close behind her squirmed four red-brown cubs, loose-jointed yet, but muscular, whimpering pettishly, mauling each other as they ran.

Six Polecats knit by kinship! it was too much for one Fox Cub to face. He cast wide off to right of them, and, creeping quietly round again, regained the ride to leeward. Here it cut through rough coppice. The western slope was thickly wooded, low bushes mostly, chestnut, birch, and hazel, yet high enough to screen what lay beyond. He started to explore the upper ground. At first the incline was easy, but half way up it steepened to a cliff. Coppice gave place to grass and briar, and these in turn to gorse and slithery sand. By slow degrees he zigzagged to the summit, faced round, and scanned the depths which he had left. The oak stump stood out clear against the ride, and, on his right, two hundred yards away, he marked the silver birch. He scrambled down to grass again, and, travelling quickly on mid-slope, found what he sought within two minutes.

Viewed from below—it opened near the skyline—the hole seemed promising enough. It was a spacious sheltered hole, almost a cavern—the depths of it ink-black, the entrance to it jagged and arching. The Fox Cub stole up cautiously and stopped dead on its threshold. Something was in possession, something which split the darkened void in three; something which crept out slowly from the black, first shadowy grey, then white—a clean-cut fleur-de-lys of white.

It was another Badger.

The Fox Cub leapt back sideways, but even so she caught him. She came out (thirty pounds of her) full charge, and caught him low. The attacking badger tosses like a bull, trusting to weight and side-swing of the shoulders. He somersaulted twice. The Badger held straight on her course and disappeared downhill.

The Fox Cub slowly pulled himself together. Had he been bitten? Bruised he was all over, and sick, and giddy; and so, the hole being there, he crept within it, and crawled down the main shaft for fifteen yards, and took one of four turnings, and followed this until it forked, and then chose the right gallery, and so attained the nest. Rather the haystack, for the making of it had almost stripped an acre. Bracken there was, and bent-grass, thyme and clover, arum stalk and bluebell, thick swathes of them inextricably tangled, bedding enough for twenty half-grown cubs.

There was food also. He found a rabbit's leg at once, then a stiff mummied frog, then half a snake. He made a closer search, and found more rabbit. Each find he sampled. Most of them he gulped, but some he buried carefully for seasoning, scraping small hollows to receive them, and plastering earth upon them with his nose. This done, he coiled himself up tight, and for five minutes dozed with wakeful ears. Thirst brought him to his feet again; thirst and a sense of danger. Clearly this was the Badger's hole—he owed that Marten something. The hole had a main entrance. From this a single shaft led fifteen yards, but then it split, and smaller tunnels joined it, tunnels which might end blind. Badgers no doubt were most benevolent, but Badgers seem to charge at sight, and tunnels were poor places to be charged in. The last reflection scared him back to sense. He would be cornered hopelessly, would not know which of twenty turns to take. That settled it. To wait for them was madness. He must go.

It was another Badger

He reached the entrance without accident, and dropped soft-footed down the slope. A puddle on the ride was in his mind—a puddle just beyond the Polecat's stump. He reached this safely also, stooped down his head, and lapped his fill.

The wood was oddly silent. Dark clouds had massed low in the sky and streamed to either side, outflanking it. Beneath their dreary shadow the green and russet of the trees faded to lifeless grey. The grass-blades stood up stiffly; the leaves hung stiffly downwards. All that was weatherwise was taking cover. Down from the summit of the ride came the two Badgers, bumping. They travelled leisurely.

First He would root an arum up (a flick with one fore-paw), and She would place her paw where his had been. Then He would stretch tiptoe against an oak, and She would do the same. Then He would wheel sharp right or left, and She would follow like a truck.

SHE CAME OUT FULL CHARGE

The Cub had time to entrench himself securely. He chose the summit of the Polecat's stump, and from it watched the pair of them bump past. They quickened as they faced the rise, and grunted to each other; then, with their heads down, sped in line uphill.

And with their going came the rain.

It spattered in large warning drops, then swished in sheets. Even before the thunder-peals, and rattle of fierce hail, the stump became untenable. The Fox Cub scrambled down from it, headed a dozen different ways, and, in the end, grown desperate, pursued the retreating Badgers. He caught them as they reached the hole, and saw them topple down it. He gave them half a minute's grace and toppled after.

And in due course of Time, His Wife

What happened next? That I can only guess at. Perhaps there was a Fox Cub course for dinner; perhaps (and this, I think, is likeliest) the Badgers took small notice of his entry. They may have even welcomed him, and, in due course of time, his wife.