COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 141 



me that quad ". The horse was very fresh and the 

 girths loose. He would do nothing but plunge, and 

 the saddle slipped on to his tail, and when I got to 

 the other end of the park I had to get off and put 

 the saddle straight. Meantime the hounds had run 

 across the park of Dunnikier, across Hayston farm, 

 nearly to Kirkcaldy, and were coming up the den that 

 leads from Kirkcaldy to Dunnikier. When I got to 

 the west lodge at Dunnikier some of the hounds 

 were swimming in the pond, and "Winnifred" 

 standing on the island looking into the water. I 

 tried all round about, and thought that she was not 

 looking after nothing, but could make nothing of it. 

 Mr. Oswald wrote about four months later : 



" DUNNIKIER, tfh March, 1877. 



" MY DEAR JACK, 



" The mystery is solved, and the gallant fox 

 who brought you here in the beginning of December 

 is no more. On Thursday we were curling on the pond 

 here, and under the ice we saw the dead body of an 

 animal, and many opinions were hazarded as to what 

 it could be ; Some declared it to be a dog, some a hare, 

 some a fox. Sainty and I determined to have a post- 

 mortem examination as soon as weather would permit, 

 so after an arduous struggle with the ice yesterday, we 

 reached the spot and found the dead body of the fox. 

 We gave him an honourable burial. We tried to 

 preserve his brush, but the hair came off; with the 

 exception of the tusks no memento is left of the 

 good fox. The hounds were right ; I saw them 



