HUNTING THE FOX 221 



cases, so many extra chances for the fox ? Even 

 whippers-in, though officially among the fox's foes, 

 are often of the greatest assistance to him. A whipper- 

 in goes forward to view the fox and heads him. In 

 his excitement at viewing the fox he holloas too soon. 

 Back goes the creature into the covert. Presently he 

 tries again to break, but this time a whiff of a strange 

 odour reaches his nostrils : there is a man smoking : 

 back he goes once more. At the next attempt he gets 

 half across a field when he meets two or three boys, 

 who yell in his face. The fox by this time is becom- 

 ing certain that he is safer inside the covert than out, 

 and in this he is confirmed by being chased by a 

 sheep-dog the next time he tries to leave. After that he 

 determines to try creeping about inside, or crawling 

 in the ditch, slipping along the boundary fence. The 

 covert is now becoming more and more foiled, and it 

 is perhaps with a sense of victory on his side that he 

 hears the long-drawn note of the horn that might tell 

 him that the enemies are going somewhere else to look 

 for a fresh fox. A fox has many unsuspected allies and 

 helpers in the hunting field. People always feel that 

 it adds completeness to the chase if they have seen 

 the fox, but if we view one close at hand at the 

 beginning of a run, the chances are that we are 

 somewhere where we ought not to be. If people 



