.

The Rarest of Pelts.
They saw that silver fox three or four times during the winter, and once found that he had had the audacity to jump from a high snowdrift onto the storehouse and thence to the cabin roof, where he had feasted on some white rabbits kept there for deadfall baits.

But all attempts to trap or shoot him were vain, and their acquaintance might have ended as it began, but for an accident.
It proved a winter of much snow.

Heavy snow is the worst misfortune that can befall the wood folk in fur.

It hides their food beyond reach, and it checks their movements so they can neither travel far in search of provender nor run fast to escape their enemies.