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 of 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 . '' So Tom went on and on , he hardly knew why ; but he liked the great wide strange place , and the cool fresh bracing air . But he went more and more slowly as he got higher up the hill ; for now the ground grew very bad indeed . Instead of soft turf and springy heather , he met great patches of flat limestone rock , just like ill-made pavements , with deep cracks between the stones and ledges , filled with ferns ; so he had to hop from stone to stone , and now and then he slipped in between , and hurt his little bare toes , though they were tolerably tough ones ; but still he would go on and up , he could not tell why . What would Tom have said if he had seen , walking over the moor behind him , the very same Irishwoman who had taken his part upon the road ? But whether it was that he looked too little behind him , or whether it was that she kept out of sight behind the rocks and knolls , he never saw her , though she saw him . And now he began to get a little hungry , and very thirsty ; for he had run a long way , and the sun had risen high in heaven , and the rock was as hot as an oven , and the air danced reels over it , as it does over a limekiln , till everything round seemed quivering and melting in the glare .
But he could see nothing XXXXX eat anywhere , and still less to drink .
behind by if into like on than till to under