164 THE HUNTED FOX AND HIS WILES 



watched his mancBuvres from behind a tree. " Why 

 didn't you holloa ? " was asked very naturally. "Is it 

 to have my good fox killed ? " was the reply. " Not 

 for the handsomest pound note that ever was printed 

 would I let a bawl out of me ! " 



It was the cat in iEsop's fables, if I remember right, 

 that told the fox who was boasting of his many wiles 

 to defeat hounds, that he had but one trick, and that 

 was to climb a tree. The hounds suddenly appearing, 

 the cat performed the tree trick successfully, but 

 Reynard, in spite of all his cunning, was torn to pieces. 

 In these days, however, the fox has learned the use of 

 the tree as a means of escape from his pursuers, and 

 I fancy that a good many more runs end in this 

 manner than most of us have any idea of, and it is 

 curious how difficult it is to see a crouching fox on 

 the branch of a tree when he knows that his enemies 

 are beneath it. 



On the last day of the season, two years ago, the 

 hounds that hunt this country had a capital run over 

 a good grass country, and had got pretty close to 

 their fox, who, fairly run out, was being viewed at 

 intervals which became more and more frequent. 

 At last he was seen to enter a large, newly ploughed 

 field — the first bit of tillage we had met, I believe. 

 Here hounds were brought to their noses, and could 

 only hold the line with difficulty. Intent on handling 

 his fox, our huntsman carried them beyond the plough 

 on to a clean grass field, where, however, there was 

 not a vestige of a line. The fence dividing the tillage 

 from the grass was a green bank of fair size, and this 

 was jumped at many different places by some of the 



