56 REDPAD THE FOX 
stampeded. Once he met a donkey-cart crawling 
down a road. The old woman in it screamed and 
waved her shawl at his approach, and obliged him 
to turn a hundred yards out of his way, but even 
a hundred yards is far to go when limbs are weary, 
and there is withal the certain knowledge that 
the pursuers are gaining ground. Nevertheless he 
could see Knockdane more and more clearly, and 
knew that there was only another half-mile, and 
the river to be forded, before he could lie down 
in the old ' earth.' Looking back he saw that 
the hounds, though tired themselves, were coming 
on faster than ever, and he knew that he must run 
his best if he would arrive at the ford by the old 
willow before them. His heart thudded as though 
it would burst its way through his ears, and his 
famous ruddy pads felt as though each were bound 
to the earth. More than once he lay down with 
closed eyes, and had he been a soft-hearted fox 
or a vixen he would have died there and then ; 
but as he was as gallant a fox as ever ran before 
the hounds to a ten mile point, he rose stiffly 
and stumbled aimlessly forward again. 
As he crossed the brow of the hill from 
whence the slope fell steeply down to the 
river, the sun came out over the shoulder of 
Knockdane and shone wanly on the flood 
