50 HOW HE CIRCUMVENTS RATS. 



inhabitant of the place the Harads-domare* and informed 

 him that he had a Fisk-tjuf, or fish-thief, who plundered 

 his nets. On hearing this, the old man immediately cast 

 away his axe, armed himself with a stout stick, and requested 

 me, as being the more fleet of foot, to assist him in securing 

 the culprit. We cautiously proceeded together to the juniper 

 bush from whence I had just seen Michel. The Domare, 

 who beyond doubt cogitated as to the of the Missgernings 

 Balken (Criminal Code), on the strength of which he 

 should summon the trespasser, was not a little disconcerted 

 when he got sight of the thief in person. But he presently 

 burst out into so loud a laugh, that Michel took the alarm, 

 and ran off at full speed for the nearest wood, where he, 

 in his turn, might laugh equally loud, as well at the student's 

 gun, as the Domare's law-book. 



Dr. Levin, of Sather in Dalecarlia, was also an eye-witness 

 to the way in which the fox, when sharp set, procures a 

 dinner. 



" In January of this year," says that gentleman, " I saw a 

 ridiculous proof of the cunning and calculating powers of 

 Michel. When on a journey, I observed at about one 

 hundred and fifty paces' distance, in an open and extensive 

 field, a large fox, standing with his nose inclined downwards, 

 and evidently speculating on something beneath the snow. 



* H'drad signifies a rural district, Domare a judge. H'drads-domare is a 

 designation applied to the eldest of the twelve men who in criminal, as well 

 as civil cases, form a sort of jury. Unless, however, they are unanimously 

 opposed to the opinion of the judge a circumstance of exceedingly rare occur- 

 rence they have not the power of pronouncing a verdict. Speaking generally, 

 therefore, these men rather act as counsellors to the judge than as jurors. A 

 jury, in the English sense of the word, is only empannelled in political cases, 

 or iu those for written libel. 



