THE FELL FOX 35 



the ground. One minute he is here, the next he 

 is far away, and you wonder how the dickens he 

 did it. Not long ago a hunted fox passed me on a 

 road, so close I could have touched him with a 

 stick. I stood stock still when I saw him coming, 

 and he took not the shghtest notice of me. His 

 mouth was slightly open, his black-tipped ears 

 flattened close to his head, and he carried his brush 

 straight and stiff as a poker behind him. I could 

 plainly hear his panting, and the sound of his pads 

 on the hard surface of the road. He did not 

 appear to be travelling fast, so smooth was his 

 action, but he passed me like a flash, and was 

 very soon out of sight. 



The fell fox does not get his first experience 

 of being hunted until later in the year than the 

 date set for cub-hunting in the Shires. Some- 

 where about the first or second week in October he 

 will be roused some morning by the sound of the 

 horn, and the music of the pack. It will be lucky 

 for him if scent is only moderate, for in all proba- 

 bihty he knows little country beyond the particular 

 mountain where he was bred. If he survives the 

 day he wiU begin to think his old quarters are not 

 so very safe after all, and by degrees he will 

 lengthen his journeys until he becomes famihar 

 with a much wider area of country. Next time 

 hounds come he may lead them a merry dance, 

 and if luck is once more with him, he will have 



