Whitefoot the Wood Mouse | Page 8

was in plain sight of Whitey the Snowy Owl, sitting
motionless on a stump only a short distance away, yet Whitey hadn't
seen him. Whitey had looked straight at him many times, but because
Jumper had not moved so much as a hair Whitey had mistaken him for
a little heap of snow.
"All I have to do is to keep right on sitting perfectly still, and I'll be as
safe as if Whitey were nowhere about. Yes, sir, I will," thought Jumper.
"By and by he will become tired and fly away. I do hope he'll do that
before Whitefoot comes out again. If Whitefoot should come out, I
couldn't warn him because that would draw Whitey's attention to me,
and he wouldn't look twice at a Wood Mouse when there was a chance
to get a Hare for his dinner.
"This is a queer world. It is so. Old Mother Nature does queer things.
Here she has given me a white coat in winter so that I may not be easily
seen when there is snow on the ground, and at the same time she has
given one of those I fear most a white coat so that he may not be easily
seen, either. It certainly is a queer world."
Jumper forgot that Whitey was only a chance visitor from the Far North

and that it was only once in a great while that he came down there,
while up in the Far North where he belonged nearly everybody was
dressed in white.
Jumper hadn't moved once, but once in a while Whitey turned his great
round head for a look all about in every direction. But it was done in
such a way that only eyes watching him sharply would have noticed it.
Most of the time he kept his fierce yellow eyes fixed on the little hole
in the snow in which Whitefoot had disappeared. You know Whitey
can see by day quite as well as any other bird.
Jumper, having stopped worrying about himself, began to worry about
Whitefoot. He knew that Whitefoot had seen Whitey arrive on that
stump and that was why he had dodged back into bis hole and since
then had not even poked his nose out. But that had been so long ago
that by this time Whitefoot must think that Whitey had gone on about
his business, and Jumper expected to see Whitefoot appear any moment.
What Jumper didn't know was that Whitefoot's bright little eyes had all
the time been watching Whitey from another little hole in the snow
some distance away. A tunnel led from this little hole to the first little
hole.
Suddenly off among the trees something moved. At least, Jumper
thought he saw something move. Yes, there it was, a little black spot
moving swiftly this way and that way over the snow. Jumper stared
very hard. And then his heart seemed to jump right up in his throat. It
did so. He felt as if he would choke. That black spot was the tip end of
a tail, the tail of a small, very slim fellow dressed all in white, the only
other one in all the Green Forest who dresses all in white. It was
Shadow the Weasel! In his white winter coat he is called Ermine.
He was running this way and that way, back and forth, with his nose to
the snow. He was hunting, and Jumper knew that sooner or later
Shadow would find him. Safety from Shadow lay in making the best
possible use of those long legs of his, but to do that would bring
Whitey the Owl swooping after him. What to do Jumper didn't know.
And so he did nothing. It happened to be the wisest thing he could do.

CHAPTER XII
: Whitey The Owl Saves Jumper

It often happens in the end An enemy may prove a friend. - Whitefoot.
Was ever any one in a worse position than Jumper the Hare? To move
would be to give himself away to Whitey the Snowy Owl. If he
remained where he was very likely Shadow the Weasel would find him,
and the result would be the same as if he were caught by Whitey the
Owl. Neither Whitey nor Shadow knew he was there, but it would be
only a few minutes before one of them knew it. At least, that is the way
it looked to Jumper.
Whitey wouldn't know it unless he moved, but Shadow the Weasel
would find his tracks, and his nose would lead him straight there. Back
and forth, back and forth, this way, that way and the other way, just a
little distance off, Shadow was running with his nose to the snow. He
was hunting -- hunting