REDPAD THE FOX 43 
' It 's a bit o' a risk, ' he mumbled, ' but shure, 
if I don't have the right lad cot to-night, Jack 
Skehan is that bitther with the Hunt he '11 not 
lave a fox in the woods, what wid the traps an' 
the poison.' 
That night the hunger pain hurt Redpad sorely 
again ; and if he had reflected upon the subject, 
he might have envied the squirrels, who, during 
that hard March weather, eked out a living upon 
germinating beechmast, or the badgers who dug up 
and ate the acrid tubers of the wild arum. But the 
Fur Folk do not possess the faculty of comparing 
their own lot with that of others. Perhaps they 
are all the happier that they lack it. 
It was after midnight, and the moon was not 
long risen, when Redpad trotted by the gate of the 
field where the sheep were. He had no idea of 
taking a lamb. They were all able to run well by 
now, and he had too much respect for the hoofs 
of the old ewes to attack the entire flock. He 
crept under the gate (there be those who say that 
a fox will not do this, but the hedgerow rabbits 
whom the fox stalks know better) and then he 
found the carcase of the lamb. His recent experience 
with the rabbit paunch had made him wary, other- 
wise he might have eaten of it, for he was very 
hungry ; but to his sharp senses something seemed 
