REDPAD THE FOX 25 
Magragh, hurling a fir cone after the white-tagged 
brush ; ' but I 'm thinking the hounds will have 
theirs before so long.' 
After that Magragh lifted his traps to the other 
side of Knockdane, for which Redpad had no great 
liking, as there were more farmsteads in the neigh- 
bourhood, and consequently more cur dogs. 
During the fine weather about Christmas time 
Redpad left the main woods, and hunted and slept 
in the thick hedgerows by the river below Knock- 
dane. They were full of rats and rabbits, but were 
not a very safe resort, for it is one of the Sabbath 
amusements of the youth of those parts to go out 
with dogs, and hunt any outlying fox in the hedges. 
Redpad could outrun any dog in the country, but 
his slender limbs were no match for the more 
sturdily built terriers and sheep-dogs at close grips, 
so perhaps it was just as well that a cold snap drove 
him back to the woods again. 
While the frost was on the ground Redpad was 
hungry and robbed hen-roosts recklessly. One 
night twelve hens roosted in an outhouse with a 
defective latch at John Skehan's farm. The next 
morning when the owner went his rounds, three 
corpses lay on the floor, and the rest of the fowls 
had disappeared ; all but one broody biddy under 
a basket. 
