248 WINTER PICTURES. 



out and cleared away the snow, I thought of the fa- 

 miliar saying, that so far as the sun shines in, the 

 enow will blow in. The fox, I suspect, has always 

 his house of refuge, or knows at once where to flee to 

 if hard pressed. This place proved to be a large ver- 

 tical seam in the rock, into which the dog, on a little 

 encouragement from his master, made his way. I 

 thrust my head into the ledge's mouth, and in the dim 

 light watched the dog. He progressed slowly and 

 cautiously till only his bleeding heels were visible. 

 Here some obstacle impeded him a few moments 

 when he entirely disappeared and was presently face 

 to face with the fox and engaged in mortal combat 

 with him. It was a fierce encounter there beneath 

 the rocks, the fox silent, the dog very vociferous. 

 But after a time the superior weight and strength of 

 the latter prevails and the fox is brought to light 

 nearly dead. Reynard winks and eyes me suspi- 

 ciously, as I stroke his head and praise his heroic 

 defense ; but the hunter quickly and mercifully puts 

 an end to his fast ebbing life. His canine teeth seem 

 unusually large and formidable, and the dog bears the 

 marks of them in many deep gashes upon his face 

 and nose. His pelt was quickly stripped off, reveal- 

 ing his lean, sinewy form. 



The fox was not as poor in flesh as I expected to 

 gee him, though I '11 warrant he had tasted very little 

 food for days, perhaps for weeks. How his great 

 activity and endurance can be kept up on the spare 

 diet he must of necessity be confined to, is a mystery 



