9° 



THE FOX. 



under our very noses, and drew the fire of three of our 

 party, myself among the number, but thanks to the 

 interposing trees and limbs, escaped unhurt. Then 

 the dogs took up the trail and there was lively music 

 again. The fox steered through the fields direct for 

 the ridge where we had passed up in the morning. 

 We knew he would take a turn here and then point for 

 the mountain, and two of us with the hope of cutting 

 him off by the old orchard, through which we were 

 again assured he would surely pass, made a precipitous 

 rush for that point. It was nearly half a mile distant, 

 most of the way up a steep side hill, and if the fox took 

 the circuit indicated he would probably be there in twelve 

 or fifteen minutes. Running up an angle of 45 0 seems 

 quite easy work for a four footed beast like a dog or 

 fox. but to a two legged animal like a man, it is very 

 heavy and awkward. Before I got half way up, there 

 seemed to be a vacuum all about me, so labored was 

 my breathing, and when I reached the summit, my 

 head swam and my knees were about giving out, but 

 pressing on I had barely time to reach a point in the 

 road abreast of the orchard, when I heard the hounds, 

 and looking under the trees, saw the fox, leaping high 

 above the weeds and grass, coming straight toward me. 

 He evidently had not got over the first scare, which 

 our haphazard fusilade had given him, and was making 

 unusually quick time. I was armed with a rifle and 

 said to myself now was the time to win the laurels I had 

 coveted. For half a day previous I had been practic- 



