208 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



" But if you will raise foxhound puppies," he replied, 

 " I must provide them with something to do when they are 

 grown. You know it costs more to raise a couple of fox- 

 hound puppies than half a dozen Lincoln sheep, and if you 

 take into account what they destroy I might say a dozen. 

 Now, foxes," declared my host, "are not nearly so expensive 

 a luxury." 



"Are n't they, though? As I get the proceeds of the 

 poultry, perhaps I ought to know. Don't you mind how 

 they killed my best prize-winning silver dorking cock last 

 year, that I refused five pounds for at the Royal Show?" 



"That was n't the fox's fault. What can you expect 

 when you don't properly lock up your cocks for the night ? 

 Besides, I don't believe a fox killed your bird at all. It 

 must have been a skunk or a weasel did it. My feeding 

 the cubs occasionally is only a safeguard against their steal- 

 ing your chickens." 



" Well," retorted madame, whom her husband in courtesy, 

 like the sportsman he is, permitted to have the last word, 

 " if you rear foxes on the farm, I must grow the hounds 

 to kill them." 



This brought the argument to a standstill, with honours 

 easy and neither party to the dispute perhaps essentially 

 dissatisfied. 



