August, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
435 
Three months old fox hound puppies by Champion Wash and Tango. The second dog 
from the left is Loma, winner of Brunswick Derby Trials. Owned by F. S. Streever 
the stone wall gap in front of us and 
split the distance so neatly that he was 
a doubtful shot for either. 
Since he was headed back toward Reu- 
ben we let him go and Stutz went plung- 
ing after and out of sight with his 
hearty hup ! hup ! ! hup ! ! ! to let every- 
one know he was on his job. 
T HERE was little time to speculate 
about the veteran Sport before we 
heard him also, coming from the 
west, but he seemed to be on a hard 
wind-swept ridge a little beyond us and 
the footing being better he was tearing 
along like a house afire. 
I had barely time to move to cover his 
line before his fox, a small pale one, 
came down the fence line south of me but 
a little too far for effective shooting. 
She was turning her head in a fright- 
ened way every few seconds to look back 
as she scurried along. Now two foxes 
are too many to let pass in the same 
quarter hour and allowing an “inch to 
the rod,” I sent four charges of B. B. 
after her. She was hard hit but went 
on down into the orchard and after mak- 
ing a few loops and curlicues lay up on 
the stone wall to rest. 
When Sport came along I attempted to 
help him across the loop and to the fox 
but that was poor judgment on my part 
for he gave me a frightened look and 
leaving the trail fled off south. 
It seemed best to give her a half hour 
and then try to creep up on her, so I 
sat down to wait and about twenty min- 
utes later Stutz could be heard with his 
fox off to the south and when he turned 
to go over the knoll Sport’s voice joined' 
his and they went out of hearing. 
Then Reuben appeared driving the old 
horse up the road beyond the orchard 
and I shouted to stop him so that we 
could set Wash after Mrs. Fox, but 
she heard my commotion and sliding off 
the wall streaked north over Court 
House Hill apparently as good as ever. 
A new snow-shoe path was plugged out 
and soon Wash was tearing north after 
the fugitive. How that pup did go! I 
hooked the snowshoes hard but when the 
hill was topped Wash’s voice was fading 
in the distance near the timber. 
F OLLOWING on I met him on the 
next cross-road a half hour later, 
headed back, well satisfied with him- 
self but exactly what he was pleased 
about will always remain a mystery, for 
it was nearly dark when I gave up fol- 
lowing his trail and turning to the road 
again found that the boss and Reuben 
had guessed my whereabouts and had the 
rig waiting. Stutz and Sport had been 
captured and I had Wash on a chain 
so we decided to call it a day and there- 
fore headed for the village. 
The seat of the sleigh felt very good 
indeed and I slid the snowshoes in the 
sleigh-box without regrets. 
All day long there had been a little 
breeze blowing, so that all tracks were 
soon filled and when we crossed a sharp 
cut fox trail close to the village it seemed 
plain that Mr. Fox had crossed not long 
ahead of us. 
Of course it was late but we had sel- 
dom seen a track so close to the village 
and all being in favor we put our trio 
on and away they went with consider- 
able enthusiasm, straight for the village 
and in the little pine grove the terrific 
racket of full cry arose. 
We were right among the houses on 
the outskirts and where Reynard would 
run was a conundrum which we guessed 
wrong as usual. 
Perhaps it wasn’t premeditation which 
caused him to slip through a hog-tight 
five-foot fence of wire, but little it 
helped as Wash went over the top spread 
out like an aeroplane and the other two 
ran round and lunged after. 
Over in the road our old horse was 
struggling with the sleigh overturned in 
a drift, but no one looked at him long, 
for up in a meadow Wash had the fox 
dodging around three big haystacks and 
was tight at his tail. 
Mr. Fox gained a temporary advantage 
here and left the haystacks to try the 
thicket, but having forgotten the rear 
end of the procession found himself in 
fresh difficulties and was obliged to take 
to the highway. 
In this order the whole procession dis- 
appeared with its accompanying racket 
but it suddenly hushed in a suspicious 
manner a few minutes later. Cutting 
diagonally to investigate I arrived at an 
approximation of the last location and 
found a labyrinth of dog tracks which 
led through a school yard and seemed to 
end around a little farm house across the 
road but encircling the house with two 
or three careful rounds failed to show 
a fox track leading out and most of the 
dog tracks seemed to be near the side 
por'ch, but an open woodshed door near 
it offered me a potent suggestion. 
Stopping a moment to listen I heard a 
sound as of claws and a gentle movement 
inside and immediately shut the shed 
door and rapped loudly at the side door 
of the house. No answer. A coal fire 
gleamed cheerily in the grate in the 
room but apparently the house was de- 
serted so I made another tour and com- 
ing quietly back past the side door sur- 
prised a little girl peeping out in a 
frightened way, but on finding herself 
observed she came to the door and I 
asked her if she had seen any hounds 
around the house. “Y-Yes,” she said 
breathlessly, “they chased s-something 
onto the porch and it ran into the wood- 
shed and the back room door was open 
and they ran right in there.” 
“Where is it now?” I asked. 
She said the animal ran out again and 
the hounds had gone too. I asked her if 
they kept a cat or dog and when she 
said they did not, I told her to keep the 
woodshed door closed a little while and 
then as I was acquainted with the next 
door neighbor I brought him back wi ,h 
me so that the youngster wouldn’t be 
too badly frightened and shortly after- 
ward the boss and Reuben arrived as re- 
inforcements. 
B Y this time it was dark but being 
supplied with lanterns we started 
a thorough search of the woodshed 
but it proved a disheartening job. A big 
coal bin offered refuge beneath its floor 
and there were perhaps two cords of 
wood in the wood pile. 
The old kitchen was only a foot above 
the ground without a cellar beneath but 
there was a splendid retreat offered be- 
tween this floor and the ground and 
overhead was a loft with the junk ac- 
cumulation of years. 
From the wood ceiling-joists hung a 
few brooder coops, some rakes, hoes, 
shovels, an old cord bedstead, a couple 
of dilapidated chairs, an old scythe; in 
short it was a typical farm woodshed. 
We searched everything thoroughly 
and then brought in Wash and Sport 
but they were not able to help us. 
Just then I heard the boss’ muffled 
voice saying triumphantly “Here he is.” 
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