REDPAD THE FOX 49 
loneliness and longing. A sheep-dog below heard and 
answered with a deep ' row-row-row ! ' of disgust at the 
chain which prevented him rambling from his home. 
' Yap ! yap ! yap ! ' shrilly and insistently Red- 
pad, silhouetted against the moon, yelped a love 
song and challenge in one. 
From the shadowed side of Kilmanagh rose 
a call less loud and defiant than his own. 
Redpad swung round, ears cocked, pad raised, 
but the still cold air of mid- January was silent 
but for the sheep-dog's bark. He whimpered a 
little and then plunged into the heather. The 
hillside was very dark, but Redpad's nose was 
keen and told him plainly who had passed that 
way. Where the main peak of Kilmanagh meets 
the more gradual slopes which rise up to meet it 
from the plain, is a little ravine, and here the night 
air bore a faint unmistakable taint to his nostrils 
fox. Among the shadows ahead, his eyes, catlike, 
accustomed to see in the gloom, detected something 
which appeared more solid than a shadow. He 
approached it cautiously, while a low growl arose 
in his throat. A pair of ears twitched and then slid 
into the bushes. Redpad put his nose down and 
hunted out the trail as carefully as ever he had done 
that of hare or rabbit. By and by he came to 
a clearing. The moon had just risen above the 
