238 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



priatecl to himself, under the same roof as the boil- 

 ino'-house. We had brought a fox back to our 

 home coverts, where he went to ground, and the 

 old dog hearing the cry of his quondam companions 

 joined them. Not wishing to dig the fox out, we 

 placed some stones at the mouth of the earth to 

 prevent another getting in, should we find again. 

 This not being the case from drawing the coverts 

 only a few days previously, the hounds were taken 

 home and fed. In the evening, when visiting the 

 kennels, the old hound and two terriers were found 

 missing, and after making fruitless search for them, 

 it occurred to us that Pilgrim might have gone to 

 the earth, and the terriers might still be about the 

 premises, as they were not generally confined to 

 kennel. Upon our reaching the earth, there lay 

 the old hound at its mouth, having scratched away 

 all the stones, and kneeling down we heard the 

 terriers at the fox inside. As these terriers had 

 not been out hunting that day, the mysterious part 

 of the business was, how they had been coaxed by 

 the hound to follow him. The place not being a 

 stronghold, we sent for pickaxe and spade imme- 

 diately, knowing the fox would be killed if left to 

 the tender mercies of Viper ; and great was the 

 delight of Pilgrim when he was dug out and taken 

 home in a sack, to be let loose again at night. 

 When arrived at years of discretion, it was not our 

 practice to turn down bagmen before the hounds, 

 for, strange as it may appear to the uninitiated, 

 the scent of a fox, which has been caught and con- 

 fined even for a day or two, is so very different to 



