Sleepy Fox Hollow we don't know what we're doing, but we're standing proud

The chase came to an end with the vole diving for cover and her son shooting her a piteous look. It was all Wylla could do not to chuckle. She meant well, but she was under no illusions Emmerich would prove to be a hunting prodigy and catch it on his first try.

It could still be there, she told him, sidling up to the log and dropping her nose to sniff alongside him. Sometimes they hide just out of sight to trick you. Whether she was right or wrong, she owed Emmerich a vole for a snack. If this lesson proved fruitless, it would be back to the hunting trails for Wylla.

Try to dig. It might lose its nerve and come back out, she instructed, driving her paw into the soft loam and shoveling a fistful of earth away from the log's base, then looking to Emmerich to do the same.