150 THE DIARY OF A HUNTSMAN 



and the man promised most faithfully to obey this 

 order, and take good care of the foxes — ^which he 

 did, as the sequel will show. In a cover adjoining 

 a park, two litters of foxes were bred up ; and, 

 during the autumn, the earths were occasionally 

 visited by the master, with whom on one occasion 

 was the writer. It was late in the autumn, and 

 on a day after a wet night, when it was expected 

 that the cubs would be padded near the earth, 

 but nothing of the sort was perceptible. This 

 created suspicion that all was not right, and the 

 head-keeper was questioned closely. He said they 

 were moved to another earth, and sure enough 

 they were. The under-keeper was now made 

 acquainted with this suspicion, and was instructed, 

 unknown to the head-keeper, to search about the 

 cover near where the cubs were bred. He did so, 

 and found two places where the earth was fresh, 

 and had evidently been lately moved. On turning 

 it up, he found two beautiful healthy cubs buried, 

 each with a leg broken, having been caught in a 

 trap, which he at night put into a sack and brought 

 to the gentleman, to whom he related where he 

 had found them, etc. The head-keeper was sent 

 for that night, and when he came into the room — 

 called the justice-room, this gentleman being a 

 magistrate — he commenced by expressing his sus- 

 picion that some unfair play had been going on 



