Forest and Stream 
Vol. LXXXIII. September 5, 1914 No. 10 
■ iWVuJ : Jemima 
Fox Hunting on Cape Cod 
'J l oi‘i 
By Henry D. Atwood. 
The incidents which I am about to relate 
occurred shortly after the closing of the civil 
war, when the opportunity was given for re¬ 
tired officers and their friends to take a shot 
at close quarters without getting a volley in re¬ 
turn. 
To begin with, the party comprised Col. 
Thomas, a veteran seriously injured during the 
war, Cowen, a railroad conductor, Wilber, a 
great jester and well known restaurant keeper, 
Sprague, a famous horseman, Thayer, county 
commissioner, Col. Ryder, leader of the party 
and myself. 
We had gone down the beach where the 
Three Lights were placed, and found only one 
fox thereon. This fox was driven by Col. 
Ryder’s dog, directly toward me; but escaped 
observation by running between the sand dunes, 
then covered with a heavy growth of beach 
grass. 
I plainly saw the dog when he came up with 
the fox, which had been sorely wounded, but 
kept' on his course until he fell dead almost in 
front of me. 
When the dog came up he put his nose to 
the earth, then raised his head with the fox in 
his mouth. He held his prey well above the 
ground, and turned in the direction of the 
marsh back of the point where I stood. 
I watched him closely, and saw him go down 
the dunes to the marsh, where he dug a hole, 
and placed the fox within it, and covered it 
carefully up with the weeds and mud. Then, 
with a self-satisfied air, he came to the point 
where I stood. 
I waited till the gunner came up who had 
shot the fox, and saw him look a’t the tracks 
in the spot where the fox had fallen. Then 
he came to me and said: “I fired at the fox, 
and shot both barrels unintentionally, and shot 
behind the fox; but struck him hard in the 
hind quarters. I don’t see what has become of 
him, for his traces end at the spot where I 
stopped, and I could see no signs of his go¬ 
ing any further.” 
“Well,” said I, “what will you give me, if 
I tell you where he has gone?” 
“I will give you a licking, if you have played 
any trick on me,” was the answer. 
“Well,” I said, “come with me, and I will 
show you where your fox is.” 
So accompanying me down the beach, and on 
to the marsh, at the spot where old “Sport” 
had hidden his prey, I kicked the grass and mud 
aside, and showed the fox to the astonished 
hunter. 
By the time the rest of the party arrived it 
was growing dark, and it was decided to start 
for the hotel at Orleans before the tide should 
rise and cover the road which gave egress from 
the beach to the main land. 
To the writer was entrusted the driving of the 
steed, and we four, Cowen, Thomas, Wilber 
and myself set forth to get to the main land 
before the tide got any higher, for darkness 
was fast setting in, and every minute meant 
more danger in the attempt to go over the 
flooded roadway. 
When we got to the roadway we found it 
was fully under water, and I felt it would be 
unsafe to attempt the passage under such cir¬ 
cumstances. Therefore I said nothing to my 
companions, and drove the horse down the 
beach, ail the time looking out for a favorable 
point whereat to cross the creek, which formed 
a natural inlet from the ocean. 
After going quite a distance Cowen offered 
to take off his garments and wade into the creek 
and see if he could find a likely place to cross 
safely over, as otherwise we should have the 
certainty of passing the night on the beach in a 
good co'ld wind of November. 
Cowen walked around for some time; and 
finally came back and said he could find no suit¬ 
able place to cross whereat I made up my mind 
that I would make the attempt myself. Accord¬ 
ingly I stripped off, and went into the creek 
and waded down for some distance; and was 
at about the point of despair in finding a good 
hard bottom, when to my great satisfaction I 
found a place where the banks were hard, and 
there would be no trouble of wading the ford, 
unless the rotten harness should break by the 
strain put upon it in drawing the wagon up the 
bank. 
I accordingly came back to my friends in the 
wagon, and told them that I had found a ford 
with a good hard bottom, and would take them 
over one at a time. 
I took over first Col. Thomas, then returned 
and took over Wilber, and last Cowen. After 
I had got them all safely over, I saw my dog, 
(Continued on page 327.) 
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