The air was frosty and the sheep stampedtheir feet in the cold?

The air was frosty and the sheep stamped their feet in the cold. Two animals, Ratty and Mole, hurried by in high spirits. They were returning home after a long day's outing with Otter. The short winter day was ending, and they had still a long way to go. Night had fallen as they came to a village. All they could see were squares of orange - red on either side of the street. The firelight of each house showed through the windows into the dark world without. Mole and Ratty looked in these windows, and became wistful. In one house, a cat was being stroked. In another, a sleepy child was being carried to bed. Then a gust of bitter wind hit them in the back of the neck. They now felt how cold their toes were, and how tired their legs, and just how far away was their own home. So they plodded along. They thought about the hot supper waiting for them at Rat's warm home by the river, and this urged them on. Rat was walking a little way ahead so he did not see what happened to Mole. All at once Mole stopped and felt himself shaken to the bones. A smell had suddenly reached Mole in the darkness. It made him tingle through and through. He was sure he knew that smell, yet he could not clearly remember what it was. A moment, and he had caught it again. With it this time everything came back to him. Home! It was the smell of his old home! Why, it must be quite close by him at that moment. His old home that he had left many months ago, that first day when he found the river!