A FOXY STORY 13 



fatigues of the day, and was already half-way 

 to dreamland, when the servant, announcing its 

 arrival, asked where it was to be put. 'Oh,' 

 replied his master, but half awake, ' put it put 

 it in the larder,' and the next minute he was 

 snoring loudly. It was past midnight, and the 

 remainder of the household had retired to rest, 

 leaving the sleeper still snoring in his chair, when 

 we were suddenly awakened by the banging of 

 doors, a volley of execrations in a familiar voice, 

 followed by a loud thump on the roof of one of 

 the outbuildings, then more execrations, more 

 banging of doors, and all was still. In the morn- 

 ing we were enlightened as to the cause of the 

 disturbance. It appeared that, on waking up, my 

 host proceeded, as usual, to make the tour of the 

 downstairs premises in order to satisfy himself 

 that all was safe for the night. On passing 

 through one of the passages, he was aware of the 

 most overpowering smell of a fox, and discovered 

 the cause to proceed, as he naively remarked, 

 4 from the larder, of all places.' To seize the 

 unoffending corpse by the brush, and open the 

 back-door, was no sooner decided upon than 

 carried out, but what to do with it was another 

 matter. The dogs might, perhaps, get at it ! 

 The moon was shining brightly on the roof of an 

 outhouse ; the suggestion was readily accepted, 

 and the next moment the corpse was ruthlessly 

 sent spinning through the air, and fell with a loud 

 thump, dislodging half a dozen tiles, which 



