176 FIELD AND TERN. 



would sit on their hind legs and beg like a dog. He 

 has tried his hand on eleven foxes (one of which bred 

 three cubs) ; bat except a brace of vixens,, which 

 did a little in the acrobat way, and an old fox, which 

 had the freedoai of the borough, and would occa- 

 sionally return thirty miles an hour down the High- 

 street and its area bolt-hole, pursued by ^'^the 

 allied armies" of Roxburgh and Selkirkshire collies 

 on a sheep-market day, their mental culture was not 

 high. " Eoxie^' had been trained from cubhood till 

 he became a perfect Robert Macaire. He would sit 

 up for half-an-hour at a stretch, with the Doctor's 

 spectacles on his eyes, a pencil-case balanced on his 

 nose, and a gold watch hanging by his canine teeth. 

 For a change of performance, he vfould wink with 

 one eye, and then roll over, and, shutting them both, 

 pretend to be dead. Teddy and he had been fast 

 friends in youth; but a coolness sprang up between 

 them about some porridge, and those fearful jaws 

 sealed his death-warrant. 



Dowager, from the Duke of Buccleucb^s kennel, a 

 couple from the Cumberland, with Tom Johnston's 

 assurance that " they would tackle aught,'' Malak- 

 hoff and Fairplay from the Dumfriesshire were, of 

 course, all " slape-haired ones" ; and Pibroch, from 

 Mr. Keir, of Whithaugh, in Liddesdale, with Royal 

 and Ringwood, composed the rough interest when 

 the Teviotdale otter pack was first formed. This 

 season it was at its full strength with three foxhounds, 

 eight otter hounds, nine terriers, and the redoubt- 



