The Siege of White Deer Park by Colin Dann

experiencing.’
    Fox was his old self. Like Badger, he seemed suddenly to have thrown off the seasons. He was a leader again. The younger foxes marvelled and ran off unquestioningly to do his bidding. Fox waited for Tawny Owl to put in an appearance and, when he did, told him what he wanted. Owl recognized the urgency in his voice and the note of command. He respected Fox above all others and bowed to his authority. He noticed Badger watching and regretted that they were at loggerheads.
    ‘Oh – um – Badger,’ he hooted, ‘you know, I never meant to – um – give the impression – er – well, that you –’
    ‘It’s all right, Owl,’ Badger called up to him. ‘Think nothing of it. We’re all apt to say things at times.’
    ‘Thank you, Badger,’ said Tawny Owl in an unusually humble manner. ‘Are we still friends?’
    ‘Oh, Owl,’ said Badger. ‘Have we ever been anything else?’
    Tawny Owl gave a hoot of pleasure and flew away.
    At dusk on the following day the Farthing Wood animals gathered with their kindred. Whisper, Husky’s mother, had been told of his death and was near the front of the gathering. The other vixens, among them Charmer and Russet, Friendly’s mate, were there too. Fox explained how the entire Reserve must be alerted. Together they could drive the stranger from their home. Whisper’s loss was alleviated a little by the proposal for action. She wanted to have a leading role in avenging her cub.
    Over the next few days and nights, the animals and birds of White Deer Park became aware that all of them were to be part of a concerted move to restore their habitat to safety. Despite day-to-day differences which arose from the natural order of things, they realized that on this issue they were as one. All of them knew of the existence of the stranger and feared it. They had needed something to be done and had only lacked a leader. Now in Fox they had been given one: a co-ordinator for their scheme. They were glad – and relieved – to be doing something positive. So all over the Reserve the animals and birds kept watch at all times for a sign of the Cat. They waited for it to make a move, some by day and some in the darkness.
    Each night the Warden or another man patrolled near the deer pen, unwitting allies of the animal community. For a while there was nothing to report. There were no more killings. This lapse was unexpected. Had the Beast gone away of its own choice? Or was it using its cunning again to lull them into a false sense of security?
    The deer still at loose in the Park were aware of their vulnerability and kept constantly on the move, never staying in one area for long, and ranging through the whole of the Reserve. One of them was found near the pen one night and persuaded, with the use of a stick, to join its fellows. Then the gate was securely fastened again behind it.
    The deer herd did not relish their confinement. They had no escape route if their attacker should decide to put in an appearance by day. They suspected that the Cat could vault the enclosure and create havoc amongst them if it should choose. They felt unsafe and had no faith in the humans’ ability to protect them. They would have preferred to take their chance and roam free when they at least had the use of their legs to run from danger. However, it was soon proved that they were not to be the target, but the one deer still at large.
    Somehow the Cat had eluded every effort to locate it. Of course there was nothing to stop it going in and out of the Park at will, and none of the animals was quite sure just what its movements were. It never allowed even a hint to come their way. Then at last the solitary hind was stalked and pulled down as she drank by the stream in the evening. The Beast was hungry and ate a hearty meal, leaving part of the deer well hidden amongst a mass of waterside vegetation for its return later. The kill was not witnessed, but the carcass was discovered by a moorhen paddling