Fox hunting for hare
libre 10
It is good on an autumn night to lie on the bank of the stormy Chilik in a warm sleeping bag, listen to the night sounds and look at the stars. How bright and beautiful they are in the black sky! From the night sounds and rustles and read the fox's hare hunt.
Unraveling the rustles of the night
Lying down, you unravel the rustles of the night. Somewhere nearby forest mice rustle fallen leaves. Two of them squeaked angrily: it means that they did not share something and fought. A dog barking comes from somewhere far away. A whole tragedy played out not far from the night camp, invisible in the darkness, but understandable in every detail by the rustles.
Footsteps of a fox and a hare
It began with cautious light footsteps in the bushes to my right. Of course, it was a fox sneaking along the dry autumn grass, listening to see if a mouse squeaked somewhere. To the left I heard the rustle of hares hopping on the shingle. The fox's footsteps quieted down at once.
I imagined that it stood still with its front leg raised and its head tilted slightly to the side, as foxes always do when they hear prey. The hare, taking his time, was hopping along the bank of the Chilik, and the rustling of the pebbles gave him away. A slightly audible rustle of a fox's footsteps at times came from a long way to my right.
So, it moved quickly to approach the hare, but cautiously, raising its paws high and avoiding the bushes, not once rustling the twigs with some surviving leaves. And again I imagined how the fox, all collected and springy, threw his paws exactly where there would be no rustle in response.
And the hare kept slapping and slapping on the pebbles, unaware of the danger. Suddenly his hopping stopped. It was he who finally heard a rustle under one of the fox's feet.
But the fox also froze in place. The hare then made only two hops, and changed to drumming on the pebbles - so fast did he rush forward, ten times more vigorously than before, rustling the small stones.
The fox in pursuit of the hare
It was quite clear that the fox had rushed and chased the hare: in the silence of the night the leaps of the hare and the fox could be heard for a long time. Gradually they became silent in the distance. There was silence, again mice squeaked in the grass and dry leaves rustled. And again it was possible to admire the stars in the silence of the night.
But here came the hare's hasty leaps closer and closer. He dashed past a tree, blackened in the darkness. He looked at the luminous dial of the watch on his arm: I wondered how long it would take for the fox to follow the hare's trail.
In exactly half a minute the fox's jumps sounded near the tree and subsided in the direction the hare had gone. I did not look at the stars anymore, but waited. A hare in pursuit usually runs in a circle. So he would make himself known again somewhere not far away. And so it was.
The hare's hopping sounded again near the tree, but even closer to me. In exactly a quarter of a minute, a fox ran after him. So the weak sand hare was beginning to tire. The fox was catching up with its prey! The third time the rustles from the hare and the fox were heard at the same time. The fox was "hanging" on the tail, as hunters say. And at once in the bushes the hare shrieked and fell silent - the fox had caught up with him!
The night drama is over
It turns out that foxes catch up with sand hares so easily. And we also managed to hear the final touch of this night drama. Some time later, a fox came out of the bushes, from where the hare's death cry was heard, and boldly rustled through the grass past the camp.
By the pebbles rustling beneath her paws it was clear that she was already on the banks of the Chilik. Nothing else was heard, but it was easy to guess that the fox was now drinking water to wash down his hearty dinner.
