52 THE FOX. 



retain the scent well ; and more than once he has 

 been known deliberately to lead the hounds under 

 the wheels of an express train, which, of course, he 

 could hear from afar, with the result that several 

 of the hounds were killed, and the hunt so broken 

 up that the fox escaped to safety. 



Running water is a never-failing friend to the 

 hunted fox, and well he knows the value of it. 

 When fishing by the river Wharfe some years 

 ago, I heard the hounds coming towards me at 

 full cry, and as presently the sounds ceased, I 

 judged the chase had changed in direction. A 

 few minutes later, however, I saw a fox daintily 

 paddling down the shallow margin of the river, 

 coming straight towards me. Seeing me, he turned 

 without haste, ascended the bank, and made again 

 for the hills ; but when, a few minutes later, a whip 

 came galloping up and asked if I had seen the fox, 

 did I betray him ? At all events many another 

 lively run did that same fox give the field ! 



A fox will deliberately run among a flock of 

 sheep so as to mix and scatter his scent with 

 theirs, and he has even been known to jump on 

 the back of a sheep and ride a considerable dis- 

 tance, thereby breaking the tell-tale line. 



But many a good fox who has fooled and baffled 

 the hounds and given them a glorious run has 

 won his freedom only at the cost of his constitu- 

 tional fitness. Emerging at length from his 

 sanctuary, after a rest of many hours, he is no 

 longer the wonderful running-machine that he was 

 when the hounds took up his scent, but is now a 

 broken creature lungs gone, heart gone, merely 

 a physical wreck. And, again, many an exhausted 

 fox, seeking shelter in a wet drain, lies there till, 

 sick and chilled, and his vitality becoming low, he 



