REDPAD THE FOX 27 
season was that Ravager who had been blooded 
on the morning when Vix had been hunted down, 
more than a year before. Redpad had met Ravager 
once before that winter, and had been obliged to 
resort to every trick he knew in order to circumvent 
that sagacious leader of the pack. 
Of course Redpad found the ' earth ' stopped 
when he returned home at daybreak, and he 
accordingly sought out a hiding-place which had 
already baffled his enemies several times. There was 
an ivy-grown fir tree which the wind had partially 
uprooted and flung against its fellows. It was quite 
easily climbed, and Redpad curled himself up in 
the ivy about fifteen feet from the ground. Here 
he slept very comfortably until noon, and then the 
familiar ' yowl-yowl ' awakened him. For an hour 
or more he watched the hounds as they occasion- 
ally galloped past ; and at last two men in pink 
coats rode along and halted under the very tree 
where he lay hidden. Presently a squirrel, passing 
through a neighbouring tree, looked down and 
caught sight of a fox sitting like an owl in an ivy 
bush. Nothing upsets a squirrel so much as curiosity, 
and a fox in a fir tree was something quite outside 
the experience of this particular one. He instantly 
desired to know a hundred things as to the why 
and wherefore of this strange occurrence, and in 
