22 REDPAD THE FOX 
were so close to him that one spring would have 
landed Redpad in their midst, but he lay like a stone, 
and they passed him by. 
' Head them off if ye can; Mike,' yelled the hunts- 
man, galloping up. ' Tis an auld fox ! ' 
' It was not, then ! Didn't I see him crpss the 
path below, an' he a cub ? ' 
' Don't stand there arguin', ye fool ! Nip round 
to the gate above, for she 's bet, an' we 've none 
too many in this country.' 
They galloped away, and the ' yowl-yowl ' of the 
pack died away over the moor. 
Redpad lay among the ivy until the morning 
mists cleared away ; and the croon of the wood- 
pigeons was the only sound which broke the stillness. 
Then he leaped from his sanctuary and crept down 
the hill. He sought for his mother high and low, 
through thickets and rocks, but he could not find 
her ; and when the autumn moon rose he wandered 
to and fro and yelped for her, but she never came 
back again to Knockdane. 
Nevertheless woodland grief is as short-lived 
as it is poignant, and before September had given 
place to October, Redpad hunted in Knockdane and 
robbed the Ballygallon hen-roosts contentedly alone. 
