114 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



Gardens. Below the cottage runs the Amber river, 

 where, with the floating fly, he shows his skill to 

 anyone who wants a lesson in the gentle art. 



He holds the appointment of rat-catcher to the 

 Midland Railway Company, and is one of the few 

 people who can claim to have trained foxes to be 

 of some economic use. The old man has had a 

 great number of foxes through his hands, but 

 only a few have turned out to be amenable to 

 the training. They must have a sufficiently docile 

 temperament, and in this respect they vary greatly. 

 As rat-catchers in cellars and dark sheds, old John, 

 however, affirms that they are a long, long way in 

 front of the best of terriers. Their quickness in 

 nabbing a rat is astonishing. They never shake 

 a rat, and it appears to be their method in seizing 

 it that puts it out of action instantly. The old man 

 has to be handy in taking the rats from the fox, as 

 their instinct is to hold them in the mouth. 



Gaunt has known a fox to kill five rats and hold 

 them all in his mouth at the same time. He has 

 never managed to train a fox to lead satisfactorily 

 on a chain in daylight ; so he carries them in a 

 sack, although in the dark he can manage with 

 a lead. All his best foxes have shown a great liking 

 for beer ; and one of them would drink beer if it 

 were offered him until he became drunk. 



The two best foxes he has had both met with 



