10 THE VIXEN AGAIN 



When she returned to the form her fears had 

 nearly subsided ; by dusk they no longer haunted 

 her, and in a day or two she dismissed the fox 

 from her mind. 



She thought that her enemy, satisfied that the 

 hill was bare of prey, would not trouble her again, 

 so that it came as a surprise when, a few morn- 

 ings later, she espied a vixen at the foot of the 

 slope, endeavouring to solve the puzzle of the 

 scent the hare had left on her way to the form 

 less than an hour before. It was strange how 

 little the sight perturbed her, but when unaffected 

 by her extreme anxiety for the leverets she knew 

 from experience there was no real need for fear. 

 Never once had she known a fox to succeed in 

 tracing her from foiled ground, though in the 

 past she had known many who had tried as the 

 vixen was now trying. There near the wall 

 the creature persisted in the almost hopeless 

 task, following now this way, now that along the 

 many lines of scent to discover the final course 

 taken by the hare after her last leap. Over and 

 over again she seemed on the point of giving 

 it up : the network of trails maddened and be- 

 wildered her ; and her irritation made her snap 

 viciously at the long bramble spray in which 

 her brush got entangled. Presently, in her 

 despair, she made a cast at random ; as luck 



