222 PEPACTON 



snow, I thought of the familiar saying, that so far 

 as the sun shines in, the snow 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 vertical 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 suspiciously, 

 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 un- 

 usually 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, 

 revealing his lean, sinewy form. 



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

 see 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. Snow, snow everywhere, for weeks and 



