FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 271 
the animal, as is very common, had climbed upon the top rail 
of the fence,and walked along it to such a distance before 
leaping off, that the dogs were entirely thrown out. I accord- 
ingly followed the fence with the whole pack about me, clear 
round the plantation, but without striking the trail again < or 
making any discovery. 
The affair now became quite serious. The reputation of 
our hounds was suffering; and besides, I found they were 
really losing confidence in themselves, and would not run with 
half the staunch eagerness which had before characterized 
them. The joke of being regularly baffled, had been so often 
repeated, that they now came to consider it a settled thing 
that they were never to shake another fox again, and were 
disposed to give up in despair. Some of the neighbors had 
grown superstitious about it, and vowed that this must be a 
weir-fox, who could make himself invisible when he pleased. 
At last I determined to watch at the fence-corner, and see 
what became of the fox. Within about the usual time, we 
heard him heading towards the mysterious corner, as the 
voices of the pack clearly indicated. I almost held my breath 
in my concealment, while I watched for the appearance of 
this extraordinary creature. In a little while, the fox made 
his appearance, coming on at quite a leisurely pace, a little 
in advance of the pack. When he reached the corner, he 
climbed in a most unhurried and deliberate way to the top 
rail of the fence, and then walked along it, balancing himself 
as carefully as a rope-dancer. He proceeded down the side 
of the fence next to the forest in which I was concealed. 
I followed cautiously, so as just to keep him in view. Be- 
fore he had thus proceeded more than two hundred yards, the 
hounds came up to the corner, and he very deliberately paused 
and looked back for a moment, then he hurried on along the 
fence some paces farther, and when he came opposite a dead, 
but leaning tree, which stood inside the fence, some twelve or 
sixteen feet distant, he stooped, made a high and long bound 
