There was not as much snow on the ground within the wood as he had expected, but there were sudden swift falls from the overloaded branches. Jonathan hurried as much as he could. As he passed the bank where the badgers were known to have their holes, he noticed that the wooden platform, built by Obury and Bill Fullalove in the summer as a station from which to photograph the animals by flashlight, was now so deep in snow that he wondered whether it would collapse before the thaw came. It was built in the fork of a tree, about eight feet up, and the ground beneath was pitted with tiny holes, as though the thaw had already set in. He paid little attention, however, for he was soon struggling up to the thighs in the drift at the foot of the bank.

‘You’ve been quick,’ said Deborah, when Jonathan walked in. ‘Anstey said you were going to see Tiny.’

Jonathan went to the telephone. To his annoyance, he could not get through to the Fullaloves’ bungalow.

‘Damn!’ he said, giving it up. ‘I’ll have to go up there, after all. I still think the whole thing’s a hoax, and I suspect our anonymous friend. Still, it won’t do to chance things if the fellow has broken his leg.’

‘Well, have something to eat first,’ said Deborah. ‘It won’t be dark for another hour and a half. You can stay the night at the bungalow. Please don’t try to come back.’

‘We’ll see,’ said Jonathan. ‘I’d better not stop now, though. See you later, I hope.’ He picked up his stick and set off.

It was a brute of a walk. The snow had blotted out most of the landmarks. He climbed up through the wood without much difficulty, but, once he had to cross the open fields, there was nothing to go by but the general contour of the land. As he ploughed onwards, the countryside, lacking the colours and true shapes of the trees and hedges, made him feel like a man trying to pick an unknown track across a desert.

He climbed over the snow-laden ghost-gate, and when at last he reached the bungalow he produced the key and went in. The first thing he noticed was that the telephone was off its hook.