And he saw that the otter children had grown too big for him to handle.
"The youngsters were a good deal set up, of course, by this unexpectedly easy rebuff of so venomous an enemy; but there was no more thought of sleep for them.

It made them terribly anxious, the idea of anything stealing in on them that way, by the back door.

For a long time they lay there motionless, their wide eyes staring into the dark, their ears straining to every faint, mysterious sound, their sensitive noses questioning every scent that came breathing in to them from the still night forest.

At last they heard a stealthy footfall outside the back door.

It was as light--oh, lighter than a falling leaf.