‘Hadn’t we better wake mother and Hazel?’ I suggested. But Rusty thought not, since they were so sound asleep. Standing up on my hind-legs, I pulled away the plug of moss that closed the entrance, and sprang out, with Rusty close at my heels. What a sight met our eyes! Even hunger was forgotten in amazement. The rays of the morning sun shining from a sky of clearest, palest blue were reflected back from one universal dazzle of white. Below us the ground was an even plain of snow, which had covered up and hidden grass, dead fern, fallen branches, ant and mole heaps—all the irregularities to which our eyes were accustomed—under its deep smooth carpet. From the bare branches of the beeches and oaks the snow had melted and fallen away, but the evergreen boughs still bent under heavy loads, from which in places long, transparent icicles drooped. It was freezing hard, for the surface of the snow sparkled with crystals of ice, which shone more brilliantly even than dewdrops in the slanting rays. No breath of air stirred under the cloudless heavens, and the wood had a new stillness which was almost awe-inspiring. But, oh, the air! Cold as it was, it had a dry tingle which set the blood fairly racing in our veins, and every moment increased our already ravenous hunger. Recovering from our amazement at the strange novelty of all around us, we bounded off together, intent on a store of beech-mast which lay beneath a twisted root of our own old beech. It was a queer sensation, that first landing upon the snow. So hard frozen was it that our light weights made no impression upon it whatsoever. You would have needed the skill of a fox to find our tracks. Rusty was the first to reach the spot where we had made our store. ‘Snakes’ eyes and adders’ tongues!’ he exclaimed—Rusty was sadly given to the use of bad language—‘this white stuff has covered it all up, and I’m hungry enough to eat a sprouting acorn.’ ‘Dig, you duffer!’ I answered him, and together we set to work, our sharp claws sending the crisp snow flying in clouds behind us. Suddenly the crust gave way, and we both tumbled through, one on top of the other, into a good sized hollow beneath. At first Rusty was much annoyed, considering it all my fault. However, as soon as he discovered that we were actually on top of our larder, he recovered, and began with all speed to scratch out the mast from the nooks and corners in which it had been stored.