Then she warned us never under any circumstances to go near the place, "for," said she, "danger lurks there, and perhaps death."
Wise little mother, if I had only heeded thy warning, what anguish and degradation I might have been spared!
Day was already dawning, and I wondered that she so long delayed returning to the earth. To jog her memory I kept glancing first at her and at the eastern sky, but to my surprise she took no notice. Her face was very sad, and she seemed lost in thought. I believe she was thinking of the time, now close at hand, when we must separate from her and face the dangers of life alone.
But it was not her intention to go back to the cairn, for on reaching the foot of the hill she turned aside and brought us to another earth, before which lay an enormous heap of yellowish soil. This, as it proved, was to be our new home; and from the fresh trail that led to it, I judged that at least one animal would share it with us.
A little way inside the entrance, which was a large one, the tunnel divided; and when the vixen and my sisters disappeared in the branch leading to the left, I, curious to see our new neighbor, followed the trail along the other. On and on I stole through a low winding passage, which penetrated so far that I thought I should never reach the object of my search.
At last I came on his lair at a spot where the tunnel suddenly widened, and the sight of it made me stand agape. Instead of the bare ground, which is a fox's couch, and on which I expected to see the creature curled up, before me rose a great heap of dried grass that filled the chamber from side to side, and reached almost to the roof. So effectually did it conceal its occupant that not a hair of him could I see. The slight rustling of the bed would have told me he was there, even had my nostrils not given undeniable proof of his presence; and as my curiosity, now thoroughly aroused, would not let me retire before I had had at least a glimpse of the creature, I drew near with the utmost caution, craned my neck over the broad edge, and looked down on him.
My eye! he was a monster. It surprised me to see how big he was; but what really took me aback was his very pale color, which showed even in the darkness of the den. I had expected to see a gray creature, like the badger on the cliffs, and not a white one nearly twice his size. My first impulse was to retreat, but on regaining my composure, I resolved to stay and have a good look at him.
His broad side rose and fell with his slow, heavy breathing; his eye—I could see but one—was closed, and there was no sign of vigilance about the small limp ears. To all appearance he was in a deep sleep, which I believed, as well I might, that had done nothing to disturb. For if my approach had been as noiseless as the incoming of the fresh air that sweetens the close atmosphere of our dens, not less so was my examination of the formidable creature, though it was made with breathless wonderment.
Yet before I could bark in his ear and run away, as I was tempted to do, he sprang suddenly to his feet with a loud snarl, which nearly frightened me out of my skin. Fortunately, he did not snap at me as I drew back, or pursue me as I bolted at full speed along the tunnel; indeed, judging from his subsequent conduct, I should say that his venerable face was one grin from ear to ear when he discovered it was a chit of a fox cub that had scared him.