The rapid nightfall of mid-December had quite beset the little village as they approached it on soft feet over a first thin fall of powdery snow. Little was visible but squares of a dusky orange-red on either side of the street, where the firelight or lamplight of each cottage overflowed through the casements into the dark world without. Most of the low latticed windows were innocent of blinds, and to the lookers-in from outside, the inmates, gathered round the tea-table, absorbed in handiwork, or talking with laughter and gesture, had each that happy grace which is the last thing the skilled actor shall capture--the natural grace which goes with perfect unconsciousness of observation. Moving at will from one theatre to another, the two spectators, so far from home themselves, had something of wistfulness in their eyes as they watched a cat being stroked, a sleepy child picked up and huddled off to bed, or a tired man stretch and knock out his pipe on the end of a smouldering log.
But it was from one little window,with its blind drawn down,a mere blank transparency on the night,that the sense of home and the little curtained world within walls--the larger stressful world of outside Nature shut out and forgotten--most pulsated. Close against the white blind hung a bird-cage, clearly silhouetted, every wire, perch, and appurtenance distinct and recognisable, even to yesterday's dull-edged lump of sugar. On the middle perch the fluffy occupant, head tucked well into feathers, seemed so near to them as to be easily stroked, had they tried; even the delicate tips of his plumped-out plumage pencilled plainly on the illuminated screen. As they looked, the sleepy little fellow stirred uneasily, woke, shook himself, and raised his head. They could see the gape of his tiny beak as he yawned in a bored sort of way, looked round, and then settled his head into his back again, while the ruffled feathers gradually subsided into perfect stillness. Then a gust of bitter wind took them in the back of the neck, a small sting of frozen sleet on the skin woke them as from a dream, and they knew their toes to be cold and their legs tired, and their own home distant a weary way.
Once beyond the village,where the cottages ceased abruptly,on either side of the road they could smell through the darkness the friendly fields again; and they braced themselves for the last long stretch, the home stretch, the stretch that we know is bound to end, some time, in the rattle of the door-latch, the sudden firelight, and the sight of familiar things greeting us as long-absent travellers from far over-sea. They plodded along steadily and silently, each of them thinking his own thoughts. The Mole's ran a good deal on supper, as it was pitch-dark, and it was all a strange country for him as far as he knew, and he was following obediently in the wake of the Rat, leaving the guidance entirely to him. As for the Rat, he was walking a little way ahead, as his habit was, his shoulders humped, his eyes fixed on the straight grey road in front of him; so he did not notice poor Mole when suddenly the summons reached him, and took him like an electric shock.
We others, who have long lost the more subtle of the physical senses,have not even proper terms to express an animal's inter-communications with his surroundings, living or otherwise, and have only the word"smell," for instance, to include the whole range of delicate thrills which murmur in the nose of the animal night and day, summoning, warning, inciting, repelling. It was one of these mysterious fairy calls from out the void that suddenly reached Mole in the darkness, making him tingle through and through with its very familiar appeal, even while yet he could not clearly remember what it was. He stopped dead in his tracks, his nose searching hither and thither in its efforts to recapture the fine filament, the telegraphic current, that had so strongly moved him. A moment, and he had caught it again; and with it this time came recollection in fullest flood.
Home!That was what they meant, those caressing appeals,those soft touches wafted through the air,those invisible little hands pulling and tugging, all one way!Why, it must be quite close by him at that moment,his old home that he had hurriedly forsaken and never sought again,that day when he first found the River!And now it was sending out its scouts and its messengers to capture him and bring him in. Since his escape on that bright morning he had hardly given it a thought, so absorbed had he been in his new life, in all its pleasures, its surprises, its fresh and captivating experiences. Now, with a rush of old memories, how clearly it stood up before him, in the darkness!Shabby indeed, and small and poorly furnished,and yet his, the home he had made for himself,the home he had been so happy to get back to after his day's work.And the home had been happy with him, too, evidently,and was missing him, and wanted him back,and was telling him so, through his nose, sorrowfully,reproachfully, but with no bitterness or anger;only with plaintive reminder that it was there, and wanted him.
The call was clear, the summons was plain.He must obey it instantly, and go. "Ratty!" he called, full of joyful excitement, "hold on!Come back!I want you, quick!"
"Oh, _come_ along, Mole, do!" replied the Rat cheerfully, still plodding along.
"_Please_ stop, Ratty!" pleaded the poor Mole, in anguish of heart."You don't understand!It's my home, my old home!I've just come across the smell of it,and it's close by here, really quite close.And I _must_ go to it, I must, I must!Oh, come back, Ratty!Please, please come back!"
The Rat was by this time very far ahead,too far to hear clearly what the Mole was calling,too far to catch the sharp note of painful appeal in his voice.And he was much taken up with the weather, for he too,could smell something--something suspiciously like approaching snow.
"Mole, we mustn't stop now, really!" he called back. "We'll come for it to-morrow,whatever it is you've found.But I daren't stop now--it's late,and the snow's coming on again,and I'm not sure of the way!And I want your nose, Mole, so come on quick,there's a good fellow!" And the Rat pressed forward on his way without waiting for an answer.
Poor Mole stood alone in the road,his heart torn asunder, and a big sob gathering,gathering, somewhere low down inside him,to leap up to the surface presently, he knew,in passionate escape.But even under such a test as this his loyalty to his friend stood firm.Never for a moment did he dream of abandoning him.Meanwhile, the wafts from his old home pleaded,whispered, conjured,and finally claimed him imperiously.He dared not tarry longer within their magic circle.With a wrench that tore his very heart-strings he set his face down the road and followed submissively in the track of the Rat, while faint, thin little smells, still dogging his retreating nose, reproached him for his new friendship and his callous forgetfulness.
With an effort he caught up to the unsuspecting Rat,who began chattering cheerfully about what they would do when they got back,and how jolly a fire of logs in the parlour would be,and what a supper he meant to eat;never noticing his companion's silence and distressful state of mind.At last, however, when they had gone some considerable way further,and were passing some tree stumps at the edge of a copse that bordered the road, he stopped and said kindly, "Look here, Mole, old chap, you seem dead tired. No talk left in you, and your feet dragging like lead. We'll sit down here for a minute and rest. The snow has held off so far, and the best part of our journey is over."