When unexpected foes¹ appear.

 

                 Little Joe Otter².

 

Never was Peter Rabbit more filled with curiosity than was the wilful³ little Otter plunging⁴ through the snow towards a certain little snow-covered tree. She was sure that she had seen something move under that little tree. She hadn’t the least bit of fear. Never in her short life had she been in real danger. Never had she had a real fright. You see always her father, Little Joe Otter, or her mother, had been close at hand. And of course, with father or mother near, there was never anything to be afraid of.

 

Now the lowest boughs⁵ of that little hemlock⁶ tree were bent⁷ to the ground by the snow on them. Under them it was dark. It was in this darkness that the little Otter had thought she saw something move. She kept her bright eyes fixed⁸ on it as she drew nearer. A few feet from it she stopped abruptly⁹. In that darkness under the boughs of the little tree were two little spots of light. The young Otter stared and blinked and stared again. Gradually she made out a face. The two little spots of light were two eyes, glowing with hunger and savage¹⁰ eagerness. The face was a fierce-looking face. Never had the young Otter seen such a fierce-looking face. For the first time in her life a chill of fear ran all over her.

 

She no longer had any curiosity. Whose face it was she was staring at she hadn’t the least idea. She didn’t even want to find out. She suddenly wished she was back where she should have been with her father and mother and brother. She turned and bounded back towards the trail. The instant she turned a yellowish-brown form bounded out from beneath the young tree. It was Yowler the Bobcat.

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