330 A BLACK FOX. 



dently bewildered by Spalding's bullet, or the effect of his 

 iu voluntary plunge down the rocks. Our men bent to their 

 oars, and had got within five or six rods of it, when it 

 straightened up in alarm for the shore. 



" Hold on, Cullen," said I, " lay steady for a moment." 

 I drew upon the annual, and just as it reached the shore, 

 fired, and it turned over dead. We found it to be a black 

 fox, that had walked out upon the ledge, and thus been 

 added another victim to the indulgence of an idle curiosity. 

 Spalding's bullet had grazed its belly, raking off the hair 

 and graining the skin ; mine had gone through its head. 



" There, Judge," said Cullen, as he lifted the animal into 

 the boat, " is a kritter that isn't often met with in these parts, 

 and the wonder is, that he didn't discover us as we floated 

 down the stream. He's about the cunningest animal that 

 travels the woods. He's got an eye that's always open, a 

 delicate ear, and a sharp nose, and he keeps 'em busy, as a 

 general thing. He never neglects their warnin', but puts 

 out about the quickest, whenever they notify him that 

 there's an enemy about. I've had a good deal of trouble 

 with them in my day, when I've been out trappin' martin. 

 They'll manage to spring the trap and carry off the bait. 

 When one of them chaps gets on a line of traps, there's no 

 use in talkin'. The game's up, and the trapper may make 

 up his mind to get rid of the varmint in some way, or locate 

 in another range of country. He'll find his traps sprung 

 and his bait gone. Or if a martin has been in ahead of the- 

 fox, he'll find only the skull, the end of the tail, the feet, 



