But the Irishwoman , alone of them all , had seen which way Tom went . She had kept ahead of every one the whole time ; and yet she neither walked nor ran . She went along quite smoothly and gracefully , while her feet twinkled past each other so fast that you could not see which was foremost ; till every one asked the other who the strange woman was ; and all agreed , for want of anything better to say , that she must be in league with Tom . But when she came to the plantation , they lost sight of her ; and they could do no less . For she went quietly over the wall after Tom , and followed him wherever he went . Sir John and the rest saw no more of her ; and out of sight was out of mind . And now Tom was right away into the heather , over just such a moor as those in which you have been bred , except that there were rocks and stones lying about everywhere , and that , instead of the moor growing flat as he went upwards , it grew more and more broken and hilly , but not so rough but that little Tom could jog along well enough , and find time , too , to stare about at the strange place , which was like a new world to him . He saw great spiders there , with crowns and crosses marked on their backs , who sat in the middle of their webs , and when they saw Tom coming , shook them so fast that they became invisible . Then he saw lizards , brown and gray and green , and thought they were snakes , and would sting him ; but they were as much frightened as he , and shot away into the heath . And then , under a rock , he saw a pretty sight -- a great brown , sharp-nosed creature , with a white tag to her brush , and round her four or five smutty little cubs , the funniest fellows Tom ever saw . She lay on her back , rolling about , and stretching out her legs and head and tail in the bright sunshine ; and the cubs jumped over her , and ran round her , and nibbled her paws , and lugged her about by the tail ; and she seemed to enjoy it mightily . But one selfish little fellow stole away from the rest to a dead crow close by , and dragged it off to hide it , though it was nearly as big as he was . Whereat all his little brothers set off after him in full cry , and saw Tom ; and then all ran back , and up jumped Mrs. Vixen , and caught one up in her mouth , and the rest toddled after her , and into a dark crack in the rocks ; and there was an end of the show . And next he had a fright ; for , as he scrambled up a sandy brow -- whirr-poof-poof-cock-cock-kick -- something went off in his face , with a most horrid noise . He thought the ground had blown up , and the end of the world come . And when he opened his eyes -LRB- for he shut them very tight -RRB- it was only an old cock-grouse , who had been washing himself in sand , like an Arab , for want of water ; and who , when Tom had all but trodden on him , jumped up with a noise like the express train , leaving his wife and children to shift for themselves , like an old coward , and went off , screaming `` Cur-ru-u-uck , cur-ru-u-uck -- murder , thieves , fire -- cur-u-uck-cock-kick -- the end of the world is come -- kick-kick - cock-kick . '' He was always fancying that the end of the world was come , when anything happened which was farther off than the end of his own nose . But the end of the world was not come , any more than the twelfth of August was ; though the old grouse-cock was quite certain of it . So the old grouse came back to his wife and family an hour afterwards , and said solemnly , `` Cock-cock-kick ; my dears , the end of the world is not quite come ; but I assure you it is coming the day after to-morrow -- cock . '' But his wife had heard that so often that she knew all about it , and a little more .
And , besides , she was the mother XXXXX a family , and had seven little poults to wash and feed every day ; and that made her very practical , and a little sharp-tempered ; so all she answered was : `` Kick-kick-kick -- go and catch spiders , go and catch spiders -- kick . ''
after as by for like of than though till to