Read The Fox Cub Bold for Free Online Page B

– now. Four badgers in a wood without a set are too conspicuous. Off with you – and don’t stop till you’re home.’
    ‘I could try again tomorrow,’ Bold offered weakly.
    ‘Yes, well – we’ll have to,’ said the sow badger. ‘Now I must go foraging again.’
    The strange wood provided less easy titbits than her familiar one. She brought him a shrew, some bitter bulbs, and a dead toad that had not been quick enough to bury itself away from the first frosts.
    ‘You must eat, too,’ Bold remonstrated as she watched over him.
    ‘I managed to dig up a few roots for myself,’ she answered unconcernedly. She followed his progress through the meal. ‘The crow told me your history,’ she informed him.
    ‘My history?’ Bold asked. ‘Ugh, this toad has an evil taste!’
    ‘Your origins.’
    ‘Oh – the Reserve.’
    ‘I’d never heard of White Deer Park. Of course, the birds know a far wider area of country. But your father – ’
    ‘Yes,’ sighed the young fox. ‘He does seem to be rather well known . . .’
    ‘Were you perhaps trying to escape from that?’ the badger asked him subtly.
    ‘Yes, in a way. But my main idea was to live beyond the confines of the Park. It promised a more exciting existence.’
    ‘Well, you’ve certainly made up for any lack of excitement in your earlier life,’ she remarked. ‘But at what cost!’
    Bold said, ‘For better or worse, it’s my life now.’
    The following evening the two animals prepared to begin the journey back to the game wood. They had eaten a meal together in companionable silence. Bold had chosen a name for his friend. He called her Shadow because of her constant watch over him. She was amused at the name and seemed rather pleased. They went back through the ditch this time in the opposite direction.
    Bold’s stamina was still at a low ebb, but he thought he might have sufficient strength to get as far as the gorse patch where he had been lying when the shooting had begun. Their progress was painfully slow.
    ‘I’m relieved that your poor eye has healed,’ Shadow had said, ‘because you took that knock on my account.’ Bold did not tell her that he now realized that his sight had been permanently damaged.
    They left the ditch and started across country, Bold hobbling along laboriously. He was very conscious of the fact that his companion was exposing herself to danger because of his slowness. There was almost no real cover until they were amongst the gorse thickets. If daylight should come before they reached them, he must make her run on ahead.
    However, they reached shelter without mishap while the darkness held out. For some time during the last stretch of ground Bold had stumbled along blindly, willing his protesting body forward in a sort of haze of exhaustion. When they got amongst the gorse he crashed to the ground like a stone, certain that he could never rise again.
    ‘Bold fox, brave fox,’ Shadow murmured compassionately. But he didn’t hear her.
    They both slept the clock round until the welcome dusk once again folded them in its soft blanket of concealment. Shadow set off as usual in her quest for food. She had not travelled far when she saw, to her astonishment, her three youngsters in the distance apparently on a search. They greeted her delightedly and immediately wanted to know all about Bold.
    ‘It’s going to be a longer job than I’d hoped,’ she told them.
    ‘We’ve hidden some food for you a short way back,’ said one of the males. ‘Where do we bring it to?’
    Shadow explained and they trotted off to fetch the supplies. On their return they found their parent running towards them in consternation. ‘He’s gone!’ she cried. ‘Bold has disappeared!’

—— 8 ——
Alone Again
    Bold had watched Shadow set off on her foraging with misgiving. He hated his position of reliance on another. The very thing he had revelled in before – his complete independence – had been completely destroyed. And now,