FOX HUNTING IN AMERICA. 273 
was accordingly put up and chased, and at first led the hounds 
through many bayous and ponds in the woods, but at length 
came running over the brow of the hill along the path, stopped 
suddenly and spread himself out flat and motionless on the 
ground, The hounds came down the hill in pursuit at a dash- 
ing pace, and the whole pack passed, and did not stop until 
they were at the bottomof the hill. As soon as the imme- 
diate danger was over, the fox, casting a furtive glance around 
him, started up, and ran off at his greatest speed. 
T knew an instance much resembling the last given; but 
this was a Red Fox. It was in the remarkable bluffs of the 
Kentucky river. 
The fox had always been lost at the edge of one of these 
abrupt cliffs, which faced the river. The place had often 
been examined by the hunters, but as the descent was nearly 
a sheer perpendicular of several hundred feet, it had only to 
be looked over to convince the beholder that the fox must 
have wings to leap down it in safety. At last a hunter deter- 
mined to watch the fox, and accordingly lay in wait. He 
saw the creature come to the edge of the bluff and look down. 
Ten feet below, there was a break in the perpendicular line, 
which formed a sort of steppe nearly a foot in width. The 
-movement by which he let himself down to this, was some- 
thing between a leap and a slide, but it nevertheless landed 
him safe on the shelf; and then it appeared that this was the 
mouth of a wide fissure in the rock. The most curious part 
of this story is, that the hunter discovered another and easy’ 
ntrance to the cave from the level ground above. This the 
fox never used when the hounds were on his trail, as the more 
perilous entrance from the front cut short the scent, and pre- 
vented the discovery of his retreat. He could only get own 
that way and came out by the other opening from the lcvel. 
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