120 MEMOIR OF 



" On arriving at the brake I found only one 

 man near it ; and he, placed there as sentinel, 

 was guarding it from disturbance with a watch- 

 ful eye. I asked him to tell me where the fox 

 was ; but he gave me a very impertinent 

 answer, saying ' he knawed better than that ; 

 and wasn't a-going to do no such thing.' 



" I kept my temper, however, as well as I 

 could ; and pulling out half-a-crown, I said, 

 'There, my man, I'd have given you that if. you 

 had told me where he was.' 



" The fellow's eye positively sparkled at sight 

 of the silver. ' Let me have it, then, he 

 replied, ' and I will show you where he is to 

 a yard,' 



" On giving him the money, he pointed to 

 a tree on the opposite side of the valley, and 

 said, ' There, do you see that tree t'other side ? 

 Take the hounds to it, and they'll soon find 

 him.' 



'' ' I've drawn the brake inside that hedge 

 already,' I said, ' and he isn't there.' 



" ' No,' he replied, but he's on the comb of 

 the hedge, close to that tree.' 



"And so he was. I ran him an hour, and 

 lost him near where he was found. Then, just 

 as I was calling the hounds away to go home, 

 down came a crowd of men, women, and 

 children, the first chiefly from the village inn, 

 to see this fox murdered. Manv of them had 



