On arriving at a wheat-field bordering the little village copse, Big and the thief-cat find fresh human “spoor” on a narrow, winding path. Anything human repels Big—but Red follows them up towards the farm.... Suddenly a flock of sparrows buzz out from a hedge and settle in the wheat. A thrill runs through Big; his eyes gleam with the lust of the chase—and he follows noiselessly in their wake.
Grey has long ago heard the squeak of a mouse in the hedge, and found an inhabited mouse-hole near which he sits in ambush.
THE ATTACK ON THE CROW’S NEST
Black, shadowed by “Terror,” walks straight towards the village copse; a little wilderness of elms and ashes, with a thick undergrowth of nettles, meadow-sweet, and buttercups. A flower-bedecked box-thorn hedge guides them from the fields into the twisting wood-scented tunnels, where a subdued greenish glimmer succeeds the strong white light of the meadow.
From a poplar over in the corner are heard gurglings and flutterings; the young crows, already big and able to fly, are receiving their first beakful of breakfast.
Black and Tiny sit down and listen eagerly.... Suddenly an old she-hare, homeward bound, comes running along the path towards them. At the sight of the giant animal “Terror” rushes off into hiding, but Black puts on his war-paint and stands his ground: he raises his back and shows his teeth, hoists his tail and erects a stiff bulwark of “brushes” all over him.
The hare stamps his forefoot on the ground; then vanishes like the wind.
Before Black has quite recovered from this shock he gets another: his enemy the old crow has spotted him, and hangs poised in the treetop.
A horrid red-green haze overspreads “Madness’” eyes; he shakes and quivers all over his body each time the bird utters its loud, grating cry.
He hates that crow! His skill in climbing; his courage in attack; his swiftness of spring; are useless against it. Noisy and bragging, conscious of its enemy’s powerlessness, it balances high up in the air, shouting to the whole world that he, the cat, is about, that he is on the warpath!