star nose, the mole, loved best of all very dark places. in fact he spent most of his life underground, so that whenever he did venture abroad into strong sunlight, the glare would nearly blind his tiny, almost concealed eyes. it was on this very account, more than any other, that he preferred to come forth from his underground home about twilight. now if you chanced to come across star nose above ground, at first sight you might judge him to be a very slow-moving, dull-witted creature. in reality he was just about the most fierce, blood-thirsty little fellow on earth or under it. for, if star nose had actually been about the size of a lion, instead of a tiny mole, he might readily, with one grasp of teeth or claws, so it is said, tear a great ox asunder. so it was just as well for everybody that he was a mere mole.
wonderfully fine and soft, beyond words, was his smoke-grey, plush-like coat, and by special providence the fur of this coat did not grow in just one direction like that of most furred animals. instead, you might stroke it either way, up or down. for this reason star nose was able to travel backward or forward with equal speed. so strong was star nose that he could upheave a long section of the hardest earth, no matter if a steam roller had gone over it. sometimes, when travelling swiftly through one of his subway passages, his velvety coat would become caked with soil; then he would give himself a quick shake which sent it flying from his back, thus cleaning his fur.
it is never well to judge anything by mere appearances, so, although star nose had tiny bits of eyes and no visible ears, he was by no means a dullard. nature, ever helpful, had shown him exactly the way to take care of himself, and, unlike his cousins, the plain little shrews, star nose wore upon the tip end of his small pointed snout a pink star. this star was not given him for just an ornament; it helped him wonderfully in finding his way about underground and, besides, he used it in rooting out deep holes, precisely as a pig uses its flattened snout. star nose spent most of his life digging, and for this very reason his claws, instead of curving inward when shut, as do those of most other animals, were arranged in quite a queer fashion—they curved back. this was a great help to him, for he could use them precisely as though they were little spades to toss aside the dirt out of his road. so quickly did he work that, if you but turned your head away for a minute, by the time you looked again star nose had dug a hole and was out of sight.
of all the burrowing tribes which live below ground star nose was perhaps the prize digger. he was not content to dig out a burrow for himself a little distance below ground and then sit still in its doorway as did his neighbours, the gopher family. no, nothing would suit star nose but a regular city subway, with such straight streets that you wondered how, with his half blindness, he could ever manage to dig them. in addition to this, there were spacious chambers, passages, and regular galleries—long roads which led to his feeding places. you would soon have lost your way in such a maze, but star nose never did. he lived in a great bank, and the entrance to his home he had concealed beneath a bush where you would never have seen it, so deftly was it hidden. there was just a little spot raised in the earth which led straight into a large chamber. five passageways descended from this, connected by galleries lower down, and from this ran many subways and long roads which were worn quite hard and smooth by the passage of old star nose, the hermit mole. it was very well for him that these walls were solid, otherwise his whole home might have come tumbling in upon him during a storm.
now the real reason why star nose happened to be occupying such a grand apartment alone was this. last june he had chanced to meet and select for his mate a little silver-coated mole. but one of his plain, shrew mole cousins had upset all his well laid plans. happening to meet star nose and his companion just outside their burrow, he actually tried to persuade her to go off with him. this was entirely too much for star nose to stand; it made him so furiously angry and jealous that he fell upon the impudent shrew, and right there under the home bush they had a dreadful battle. long and hard they fought there; they scratched and tore and bit each other's beautiful fur coats until they were in tatters, uttering fierce squeaks of rage, rolling over and over in a deadly grip, each mole quite determined to win little silver coat, while she, poor thing, sat stupidly by, wondering what it all meant. as she sat there shaking gently, old golden eyes, the hawk, went sailing overhead, and making one swift lunge downward bore her away. neither star nose nor his antagonist noticed that she was missing; they kept on with their awful fight, biting each other savagely, as they had in the beginning, until finally the shrew had to give up; he was getting the worst of it, and crawled miserably away. then star nose, for the first time remembering what the fight had been about, searched vainly for his little companion. he peered anxiously everywhere, nosing the earth on all sides and searching; then, thinking perhaps she had gone down into the burrow, down he scurried, peering up and down the long roads and galleries, calling softly to her with little muffled squeaks; this because of the earth which sometimes filled his nostrils. in vain he searched. he did not find silver coat. discouraged and worn out on account of his terrific struggles, he gave up, huddled himself in a soft little ball, covered his head with his flat claws, and took a long sleep in the main chamber of his home, hoping to forget his troubles.
all that summer star nose lived alone, and so he became a kind of hermit mole. of course he was not so very happy; in fact his disposition had become sadly changed. so upset was he by the loss of his little mate that he felt disagreeable with everything which happened to cross his path. sometimes, so fiercely jealous and full of hate was he that he would enter the subways of the shrew family when they were away, and when he came across a nest full of baby shrews would bite and kill them viciously, in the meanest way. finally all the shrews for miles about dreaded the approach of old star nose and avoided his trails. even the sight of his star-tipped snout seen breaking through the earth, on a moonlight night, would put them in a panic and they would scurry away.
star nose cared nothing for them. he now laid all his troubles to the shrew tribe and so planned in this unjust way to get even with them.
at last the warm, autumnal sunshine no longer shone down and warmed the bank with its rays. as it grew colder, many of those who lived in underground homes, the fur-coated burrowing tribes, began to make ready their winter quarters. the chipmunks had laid in their stores, the woodchucks, now sleek and very fat, had gone into their inner chambers and closed up their front and back doors snugly that they might sleep warm all winter. so there were really very few among the wild ones stirring abroad. colder and bleaker grew the hillside, but thicker, softer and more elegant became the velvety coat of old star nose. he didn't care how cold it grew; in fact he worked all the harder, even beginning new subways deeper down in the ground, which ran far beneath, so the frost could not enter. star nose did not close up his doors as had the woodchuck family, for he loved to creep outside and gnaw among the roots and grasses. when the sun came out it warmed his thick fur coat very pleasantly. he took even longer journeys underground, digging frantically in new directions, and he never forgot the fright he had once when in digging he actually broke right through into the hut of musquash, the muskrat, where it faced the water. it chanced to be vacant, and while he was busy exploring the hut, wondering what kind of cement musquash used to harden its walls, he heard the slap of a muskrat's tail upon the water. peering out he saw bubbles rising, then a brown pointed snout, and two indignant eyes looking right at him. star nose tried to back out down a passageway, but he was not quick enough, and even before he could turn about musquash, with a squeak of rage, had him right beneath his claws. sly old star nose thought his time had come then, but, strangely enough, he managed to wriggle his soft body free and had slipped quickly off down a long, narrow passage, too small for the muskrat to follow him. star nose realised he had had a narrow escape that time. but, i suspect, if the truth were known, musquash did not happen to be very hungry, for he had just had a fine meal of lily roots; then, too, star nose is not reckoned so great a dainty, for he carries such a disagreeable scent of musk about him, even stronger than that of musquash himself; 'tis said no wild thing will devour him unless very, very hungry.
after this escape, you may be quite certain star nose did not visit the huts of musquash again. one day star nose poked his snout out of a runway of earth which he was raising, and soft white snow feathers came whirling down. he crept forth, and finally the little flakes were sprinkled thickly over his heavy fur coat. he enjoyed the snow although it cut off his food supply above ground. this fact did not worry him, for deep down below the frost line in the earth, grew a matted network of all kinds of succulent roots, some of them terminating in bunches of little, juicy ground nuts. the teeth of the mole were sharp and fine as needles, so all he had to do was to dig and then feast as he worked, which was pleasant, for he was always coming upon some unexpected dainty ahead of him.
at last the snow fell; deep and soft it covered over the hill with a white, thick blanket. yet beneath the blanket worked and travelled star nose. all winter long his trails ran just beneath the deep snow and in the spring, when the ground became bare once more, one is able to see all these blind trails for oneself. the first warm sun shone out at last. it was the beginning of the spring thaws; then the snow blanket upon the hill began to grow thinner each day. already the great snowy owl had begun to think about a nest, and certain of the fur tribes had ventured to come out, at least upon sunny days, for they were terribly hungry after their long winter sleep.
right out upon the white snow crust finally crept star nose, the mole. at first the glare almost blinded him, he had stayed so long under ground; besides, he loved night best of all. however, he liked to feel the grateful sun warming his back, so there he lay, a soft, blind, stupid bunch of fur, out in plain sight upon the white snow. a long, slim figure, fur-clad, all in white, excepting the tip of its tail, which was brown, came mincing along, picking its way warily over the snow, craning its long neck and peering, first to this side then the other. over the little snow hummocks it crept, its crafty yellow eyes searching everywhere for food. this was just kagax, the weasel, wearing his winter coat of white fur, which did not show against the snow, and kagax was glad, for he was very, very hungry. he spied the little grey heap of fur upon the snow, saw star nose huddled there, covering his blinded eyes from the glare, and instantly he pounced upon him, and carried him off.
so this was the end, finally, of star nose, the cruel, crafty old hermit mole; such a fierce creature that even his own relatives feared him. and now his fine, secret chambers which he worked so long building, and all his subway passages are vacant, temporarily. but i dare say by spring some of the shrew family will move into his old home.
