CHAPTER XIII 



ON ARTIFICIAL FOX-EARTHS 



The most sacred spot in the old covert lay about thirty 

 yards from the gate, which opened upon the middle 

 side ; a narrow path branching from the ride led one 

 in a few steps to a cavity in the ground, at the end 

 of which cavity a small stone-faced aperture, half- 

 hidden by tangled weeds and grass, revealed itself. 



" It looks like the mouth of a drain ! " said my 

 small boy to his tiny sister after his first visit to the 

 covert ; " but " (in a tragic whisper) " it really, really 

 is — The Fox's Den ! " 



The little path led on straight past the cavity I 

 have mentioned for ten yards to another similar 

 excavation, wherein was situated the other mouth of 

 the earth, which was shaped exactly like the letter A, 

 the plan of artificial earth which found most favour 

 with our great M.F.H. ; and my comparatively slight 

 experience has led me to believe that this is the most 

 satisfactory pattern I have seen. 



To describe more particularly this particular earth 

 I must mention first that the old covert is situated 

 in the corner of a perfectly flat field of twenty acres, 

 and, the ground being on a dead level, the mouths of 



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