The barb-wire trick takes a deal of nerve and 

 the best of legs. It was long before Rag vent- 

 ured to play it, but as he came to his full pow- 

 ers it became one of his favorites. 



"It's fine play for those who can do it," 

 said Molly. " First you lead off your dog on a 

 straightaway and warm him up a bit by nearly 

 letting him catch you. Then keeping just one 

 hop ahead, you lead him at a long slant full tilt 

 into a breast-high barb-wire. I've seen many a 

 dog and fox crippled, and one big hound killed 

 outright this way. But I've also seen more than 

 one rabbit lose his life in trying it." 



Rag early learnt what some rabbits never 

 learn at all, that ' hole-up ' is not such a fine 

 ruse as it seems ; it may be the certain safety of 

 a wise rabbit, but soon or late is a sure death- 

 trap to a fool. A young rabbit always thinks 

 of it first, an old rabbit never tries it till all 

 others fail. It means escape from a man or 

 dog, a fox or a bird of prey, but it means sud- 

 den death if the foe is a ferret, mink, skunk, or 

 weasel. 



There were but two ground-holes in the 

 Swamp. One on the Sunning Bank, which was 



109 



