KEEPERS 295 



a new keeper, who came from a suspicious quarter, 

 and was therefore strictly ordered not to destroy a 

 fox. As he kept a pack of fox-hounds, his orders 

 were that the foxes should be more thought of 

 than the pheasants ; and the man promised most 

 faitlifully to obey this order, and take good care of 

 the foxes — which he did, as the sequel will show. 

 In a cover adjoining a park, two litters of foxes 

 were bred up ; and, during the autumn, the earths 

 were occasionally visited by the master, with whom 

 on one occasion was the ^vriter. It was late in 

 the autumn, and on a day after a wet night, when 

 it was expected that the cubs would be padded 

 near the earth, but nothing of the sort was per- 

 ceptible. This created suspicion that all was not 

 right, and the head-keeper was questioned closely. 

 He said they were moved to another earth, and sure 

 enough they were. The under-keeper was now 

 made acquainted with this suspicion, and was in- 

 structed, unknown to the head-keeper, to search 

 about the cover near where the cubs were bred. 

 He did so, and found two places where the earth 

 was fresh, and had evidently been lately moved. 

 On turning it up, he found two beautiful healthy 

 cubs buried, each with a leg broken, having been 

 caught in a trap, which he at night put into a 



