Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-08-15

Well. the hounds chased away into
the woods. and in : few minutes
heard terrible barking and bowling
and screaming Of the dogs. as If they
were just about to eat Mr.. Fox. I
hurried through the woods in the di-
rection Of the sounds When I got
nearer saw the fox lying on the top
of an unfinished shanty. just q little
higher than the dogs could jump. and
yet beyond the reach of my gun He
lay fat down, but he would move his
ears and cape and yawn as if he was
totally unconcerned at the hullabaloo
just below him. As I slowly APP
preached he ran clear up to the edge
of the board roof ON which he was
sitting as if to jump. He got both
dogs on that side of the shanty waiting
for him. then turned quickly round
and ran across the roof to a rickety
well pole that stood there Down the
well pole he fed before the dogs were
well aware of his intention. He cut
across some low marsh land on which
some prairie hay had been cut and
stacked and ran up a hay-stack. Here
he entertained the dogs as before. He
would come down from the top of the
stack so as to be just little higher
than the dogs could jump; then he
would SO conduct himself as to keep
the dogs busy jumping up and barking
at him while he rested As L ap-
preached, he would 60 round on the
farther side of the stack. so as to keep
it between himself and me, and as /
yCo1lxoa
And the top of the stack was always
between u.s. He thus entertained
us for about half an hour, till
Patrick, the Hibernian before men
toned. came up with long pole. and
approached the stack to beat him to
death or drive him around so that I
could shoot him, but when Patrick
approached the stack Mr.. Fox jumped
off and made his escape. That fall he
made my hennery another visit when
there some fresh snow on the ground.
/ tracked him to his hole and there set
a steel trap near the mouth of it, well
baited with fresh meat, and covered it
over with leaves, and every day for
three months found the trap sprung,
but no fox. / finally concluded that
he jumped over the trap when he
came out and I set another trap about
two feet outside of the first. Well, he
got caught there by the fore foot, and
he chewed his fore foot off and left it
in the trap. But he got we'll; and
often since then | have seen the old
fellow running along and have fol-
lowed his track in the snow. All the
settlers know him we'll When he
runs he strikes the ground forward
like an unwilling mule when COM
PEELED to go faster than he wants to,
and the settlers call him s.Limpin
Jim
One winters day when a new snow
was on the ground. about foot deep.
l found a dead goose in the morning
and saw Jim's tracks. I concluded
that he could not run, now that the
snow was so deep. and that
would murder him and have done
with it. Well. I chased him and
ran right straight to the Saginaw
Bay. about two miles distant. The
bay near the shore was covered with
new ice, extending out perhaps half
mile from shore. The ice at the shore
would bear a man but further out, as |
the water became deeper and warmer.
the ice was thinner. till finally there |
was none. Well, Jim ran out on the |
ice and the dogs were close after him;
he would run apparently with all his
might for four or five rods; then he
would jump to one side and the dogs
would go sliding along twice as much
farther past him before they could re-
cover themselves. Jim kept up this
play for an hour and seemed to enjoy
it hugely. He finally got out on the
the thin ice where he knew it would
not bear the dogs. The dogs would GO
as near him as they dared to and the
ice would crack under them noisily,
when the dogs would howl and yelp
and bark and return to the safer place.
Jim got upon his hind legs; he barked.
he chartered, he made motions at
them, as the children say he made
faces" at them. till the dogs. forgetting
all ideas of safety, made a dash for
him and broke through the ice, and
they could not get out. We got boat |
and broke the ice out to them and |
rescued them, and Jim lazily trotted |
away to his hole.
Talk about instinct l tell you that |
animals have reason.-A. G. Maxwell, |
in Detroit Free Press.