El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-03
BY F. St Mars.

OMETHING, it seemed, was the
matter with the even surface OF
~ the grassy field. An upheaYal
was taking place thereon, very 1T
tie one, it is true, but nevertheless
an upheavaL The grass was hftlns'
gently silently. Presently it parted,
and the brown earth, looking ike
broken chOcolate-Came out and rotisu
sideways, so that presently quite III
tie hillock was formed
A field mouse, reused out OF MS
winter inactivity by the warm sun
shine OF one of those mild afternoons
the winter sometimes gives US, came
ambling along among the gas
stems grooming to himself, and look
ing for the hole that led to the win
ter store Of corn which he had hoard
ed in a neat little deserted mole
nursery beneath the autumn leaves
Then he suddenly pulled up snort.
He had found the hole truly, tn4t
mouse. but close beside ii the GROUND
was being upheaved from within IN
a most unprecedented manner
He thought his wonderfully senSl-
tive Whiskers would tell him what ne
could not see-namely, who the WIG
person might be hidden below there
who was disturbing his winter store
Indeed, the wild person below there
was doing more than that; he was up
heaving the store itself, for you could
see the golden grains of corn exposed,
all mixed up with the sweet-sme ling
earth. The mouse was nearly iran
tic
The next moment ne became as rigid
as a mouse cut in stone A small
pink prOtuberance, as II were the up
of a baby's finger. had thrust up out
Of the heap. right under the mouse
sharp snOut
Then the mouse fell backwards. Sui
denly and quite unexpectedly the
earth had been heaved aside, and out,
like a pOrpoise on a Water-top, had
plunged a little black beast whose
long. pig-like snOut was the BABY.
finger-like thing afore- mentioned;
whose 1OrepaWs were enormous, IKE
hands or troWels. and turned Outwards,
and whose coat was as black as black
plush and twice as soft The mouse
had never seen a mole before. or else
he would have recognized this little
black mining gentleman as mole ana
would have left him alone. Especially
as he was an old mole and very cum
ming as well as short-tempered
Instead however, the mouse instant
" hoped in with barred teeth
fancy he was angry about losing his
winter store, which the mole had
scattered and spOilt. but not eaten-a
loss which might mean starvation TO
him, and he wanted revenge
The mole was thoroughly chewing
worm when the mouse flew at him.
Although he had no eyes that one
could see-they being hidden beneath
tie uSe-hts wonderful sense OF smell
and hearing, in spite of the fact that
he had also no external ears, told him
all he wanted TO know in time. and so
he plunged into the earth and van
ished- He left. however, hole to
show where he went in, and down this
the infuria ted mouse rushed. POSI-
bly, the sight Of his foe running
away made the mouse over-valOrOus.
Ihen calmly and cody. but very
swiftly, the mole doubled on himself,
and came straight to the houses
throat with tiny eyes ablaze.
There was g scuffle. a high squeak,
and silence. The mouse was dead, al
most in as short a space Of time as
one would take 10 count five, and the
mole was calmly feeding on him, for
the mole is for his size not only
the greatest eater and possibly the
greatest drinkers. but also the greatest
fighter, among animals on the fact Of
the earth
AN hour later We find our mole on
the other side Of the field. He had
got there entirely underground, US
ing for travelling main tunnels which
he or his friends had dug by means
Of their heavily clawed trOwel-like
fOrepaws controlled by terrificauy
powerful shoulder muscles set on spec
Tally developed shoulder blades.
Now and then he had turned up a
side gallery in his quest for worms,
his staple food. and it was the loose
earth. pushed up from these side gall
leries as he drove them further, that
formed the heaps which we call mole
hills.
He was on the track OF
worm, This he knew by
his nose. for il was black
as pitch down there. He was indeed
chasing. the worm through the solid
earth, digging every inch Of his course
yet travelling so quickly that 1t looked
very much as though he was swim
ming with slightly undulating, up
and-dOwn motion.
Suddenly, the worm, a big one.
turned and made directly for the sur