36 THE SILVER FOX 



terranean combatants none could tell ; the 

 flood burst from the lower end of the drain 

 and ran down the field brown with mud 

 and redolent of fox, and the pack, without 

 a moment's hesitation, pursued it hotly 

 down the field till, amidst yells of laughter, 

 it escaped from them into a boghole. After 

 a brief interval, muffled hostilities recom- 

 menced in the drain ; two spades and a 

 pick appeared, as if by magic, and a shaft 

 was sunk upon the squeaks. 



" Give over the spades," shouted Danny- 

 0, as the roofing stones of " the gully " 

 appeared, ** the hands is the besht. Hurry 

 now, before he'll go north in it from ye ! " 



" Arrah, what north ! he haven't room to 

 turn in it ! " 



*'Dom yer sowl, he'd turn in a kayhole!" 



" Go get a briar ! " roared another voice, 

 ** he isn't two foot from the hole ! Twisht it 

 in his hair now — twisht it, can't ye, and 

 dhraw him out ! " 



The principle was that adopted by dent- 

 ists in extracting the nerve from a tooth, 



