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 lost the pale ghostly grays of midwinter, and there was a vitality and flush to all the colors that suggested life that tingled and rioted just beneath the outer bark.

All of the wood folks also were astir, the crows were cawing lustily, and the woodpeckers were pounding away as though this beautiful Spring morning had given a new zest to their appetites, and they had got to work hard for the morning meal.

There was life also at the entrance to the den in the spruces, for Mother Fox had just come out to see how the morning went, and to see if she could discover anything of her lord, the great hunter, for the four blind fox pups in the den pulled heavily upon her strength and substance, and her appetite this morning was like that of the proverbial wolf.

The first thing that she did on coming out into the open was to stretch and get the kinks out of her muscles. There was not as much room in the den for her as there had been before the whelps came. She had to be careful and not lie upon them, so she of-