THE BADGER 



him, and was in before I could say " Knife." 

 No sooner was he in than the fox was out, 

 with Twig at his brush. This was not at 

 all what we wanted, as the whole pack was 

 within fifteen yards. Twig collared the fox 

 as he bolted, and as the hounds were making 

 a dash at him. I was angry with Twig, lifted 

 the fox and Twig, who I thought was hold- 

 ing the fox, above my head to save reynard 

 from the hounds. Here I had to hold him 

 for five minutes, but when I tried to choke 

 the old dog off, 1 discovered that the fox was 

 holding Twig through the upper jaw, and 

 the dog was hanging with his whole weight 

 suspended on the fox's teeth. Having made 

 the fox leave go Twig fell to the ground, and 

 when all was clear I put the fox down, when 

 we had a sharp ten minutes to ground again. 

 I was there only just in time to prevent 

 Twig from goingr in to take his revenge — 

 the fox this time being left in peace. It is 

 as well to have with you one bull-terrier, or a 

 fox-terrier with a bit of bull about him. In 

 cases of emergency, and when close up, such 



a dog comes in useful, but they are tiresome 



109 



