192 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



yard to serve as a house for his pets. He fastened 

 them to a stake driven close to the barrel. On 

 Saturday he took his paints and made 



HIS FIRST PLCTURE FROM NATURE; 



the picture is amateurish, but he has kept it unto 

 this day and a reproduction of it accompanies this 

 chapter. The author prizes this picture because it 

 is the first attempt he ever made at a serious draw- 

 ing from life. 



Shortly after this incident the boy's parents 

 moved to a larger house with more extensive 

 grounds, and Faust and Marguerite had a box 

 made for them with a round hole in its center for 

 a door-way. The box was buried in the ground 

 about a foot so that the hole or door-way of the 

 box was even with the surface of the ground; the 

 dirt from the excavation was packed over the top 

 of the box so that 



THE FOXES' HOUSE APPEARED 



like a mound of earth. 



Here they lived happily for a long time, running 

 around the neighborhood at night and loafing 

 around their den in the daytime; but the reader 

 must not suppose that their master knew that his 

 pets were roaming free. They may have been free 

 for weeks before it was discovered and it is known 

 that they were free for at least four or five days 

 while they were supposed to be tightly chained to 

 the door of their den. 



