en! A pig--that's me! Just a pig--a
plain pig!"

He waited till Mole's sobs became gradually less stormy and more
rhythmical; he waited till at last sniffs were frequent and sobs only
intermittent. Then he rose from his seat, and, remarking carelessly,
"Well, now we'd really better be getting on, old chap!" set off up the
road again over the toilsome way they had come.

"Wherever are you (hic) going to (hic), Ratty?" cried the tearful
Mole, looking up in alarm.

"We're going to find that home of yours, old fellow," replied the Rat
pleasantly; "so you had better come along, for it will take some
finding, and we shall want your nose."

"Oh, come back, Ratty, do!" cried the Mole, getting up and hurrying
after him. "It's no good, I tell you! It's too late, and too dark, and
the place is too far off, and the snow's coming! And--and I never
meant to let you know I was feeling that way about it--it was all an
accident and a mistake! And think of River Bank, and your supper!"

"Hang River Bank, and supper, too!" said the Rat heartily. "I tell
you, I'm going to find this place now, if I stay out all night. So
cheer up, old chap, and take my arm, and we'll very soon be back there
again."

Still snuffling, pleading, and reluctant, Mole suffered himself to be
dragged back along the road by his imperious companion, who by a flow
of cheerful talk and anecdote endeavoured to beguile his spirits back
and make the weary way seem shorter. When at last it seemed to the Rat
that they must be nearing that part of the road where the Mole had
been "held up," he said, "Now, no more talking. Business! Use your
nose, and give your mind to it."

They moved on in silence for some little way, when suddenly the Rat
was conscious, through his arm that was linked in Mole's, of a faint
sort of electric thrill that was passing down that animal's body.
Instantly he disengaged himself, fell back a pace, and waited, all
attention.

The signals were coming through!

Mole stood a moment rigid, while his uplifted nose, quivering
slightly, felt the air.

Then a short, quick run forward--a fault--a check--a try back; and
then a slow, steady, confident advance.

The Rat, much excited, kept close to his heels as the Mole, with
something of the air of a sleep-walker, crossed a dry ditch, scrambled
through a hedge, and nosed his way over a field open and trackless and
bare in the faint starlight.

Suddenly, without giving warning, he dived; but the