60 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 
knew very well what they were after; they had 
got their sticks to beat the bushes for birds, and 
he was determined to prevent their doing such a 
thing. The boys all cried out, denying that they 
had any such intention, and told him they had 
found a fox caught in a steel trap with one of its 
forelegs crushed, and as it would perhaps be a long 
time, before the keeper would come round, they 
were going to kill the fox with their sticks to put 
it out of its misery. Uncle Sam said it would be 
better to save its life, and asked them to take him 
to the spot. This they did willingly, and there, 
sure enough, was a big fine fox held by one leg, 
crushed above the knee. He was in a savage 
temper, and with ears laid back and teeth bared 
he appeared ready to fight for his life against the. 
crowd. Uncle Sam made them place themselves 
before the tortured beast, and tease him with their 
sticks, pretending to aim blows at his head. He 
in the meantime succeeded in setting the end of 
his stick on the shaft of the gin, and, pressing down, 
caused the teeth to relax their grip, and in a mo- 
ment the fox was free, and, darting away, disap- 
peared from their sight in the wood. 
A year or so later, Uncle Sam heard of his 
rescued fox, a three-legged one, the crushed limb 
having fallen or been gnawed off. He had been 
seen near that spot where he had been caught. 
This was close to the highest part of the wall-like 
cliff, and he had a refuge somewhere among the 
rocks in the face of it some forty or more feet 
