166 THE HUNTED FOX AND HIS WILES 



thorn-tree when I did so, talking to an elderly- 

 gentleman with a spade in his hand, who expressed 

 an opinion " that thim dogs is no [adjective] good at 

 all," for didn't he " see the fox corning up out of the 

 bog not two perch in front of thim." I met my 

 ancient friend a few days after as I drove past the 

 same spot, and he stopped me. "A great hoontsman 

 you are," said he, "and the tail of that [something] 

 of a fox hanging not half a foot above the nose of 

 ye ! " And he then told me how a few minutes after 

 we had left he saw the fox slip down from the tree 

 under which I had been standing. I examined the 

 place, and certainly the fox could not have been 

 crouching more than two feet above my head when 

 I held the horse for the whipper-in. There are few 

 sportsmen, I imagine, who cannot call to mind some 

 tree tales similar to the above ; I can recollect several, 

 but these two, somehow, have a very abiding place 

 in my memory. 



A fisherman once gave me very interesting details 

 of the efforts of a fox we were hunting to baffle his 

 pursuers, which, however, in this case proved futile. 

 He was trying for a salmon a little above a bridge 

 when he heard the cry of hounds on the far side of 

 the river, and shortly after saw a fox, which was 

 evidently crossing by the bridge, appear upon the 

 parapet and scramble down to the beach on the side 

 of the river where he was fishing. Probably the 

 fox may have been headed on the roadway, but 

 anyhow, he now took to the water above the bridge 

 not far from the fisherman, and swam back to the 

 other side. On landing he passed under a dry 



