The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-16
A STORY OF FIVE SMART FOXES.
How Their Cunning Was Finally

= S4t4A~N~N~
How Their Cunning Was Finally
Thwarted by Virginia Colonel.
Everybody knows that foxes are
smart" said the colonel, "but every
body doesn't know how particularly
smart the foxes down in Virginia are.
We hunt the fox down there only with
the horse and hound. Any chump can
shoot fox. 1t takes a man to run one
down a-horseback, especially when the
foxes are as smart as they are in Vir-
ginia.
st remember once that party of us
started a big fox down there, and he
led us a beautiful chase up hill and
down dale. For five good miles he kept
neat lead and then the dogs began to
press him close. When they were not
more than a half-dozen rods behind
him, and he was evidently getting very
tired, he dived into the end of a hollow
log. We Of course thought that his
brush was ours, but before the dogs got
to the old trunk out popped the fox at
the other end of it. The trunk was hol-
low all the way through. Away the fox
went again as If he had new lease of
life. He kept big lead Of the dogs and
hunters with apparent ease. For an
other five miles we gathered behind
that pesky fox He kept right on his
course, bearing gradually around to the
| direction in which the chase began. At
the end of five miles the fox Jagged
again, and the dogs were showing the
effects of the run. But they were
gaining rapidly on the tired fox, and it
seemed that in few seconds more he
would be their prey, when he Jumped,
or rather tumbled, into a ditch, which
had a peculiar overhanging bank, IN
der which he crept. I was riding in the
| lead, and when T saw how neatly the
| fox had trapped himself l couldn't help
| but think he was chump, and had no
| business to be fooling away our time.
| But before the dogs reached the ditch,
| out came the fox, just where he had en-
| tered. He leaped from the ditch with
| the agility and ease of a cat, and away
| he went again, at. a pace that soon left
both dogs and hunters good way in
| the rear.
"Our dogs were getting pretty well
| winded, but the aggrayating tactics of
| the fox put new vim into them and
| they flew across another fve-mile
! stretch, the fox always in sight. The
| fox was now bearing directly toward
| the starting point, which was good
| ten miles away. When the run had
| covered another five miles or so the fox
| gradually fell off in his speed and again
the dogs were closing up on him with
| the same prospects of oyerhauling him
and revenging themselves. I was still
riding in front, and wondered wheth-
| er it could be possible for that fox to
| outwit us a third time. While was
| thinking the fox made for heap of
| brush piled loosely at the edge of the
| woods. He paused at the brush pile,
| looked back to see how close the dogs
| were on him, and then crept quickly
| into a small opening in the brush and
| drew himself out of sight under the
4 pile The dogs gave yelp Of triumph,
and couldn't help shouting little ex-
ultantly myself, for we were within ten
feet of the pile, and there didn't seem
| to be any possible escape for the fox.
| The dogs reached the brush pile and
one or two sprang upon it. Then, like
| a shot, out Of the other end Of the pile
went the fox again. When the dogs
saw him they actually stood stock still,
| with expressions Of establishment and
! despair on their faces. But there he
| was scooting away again across the
country as If he hadn't run a mile that
| day. The dogs soon recovered them
| selves and off they went on the trail in
| full cry. But they couldn't lessen the
| distance between them and the fox I'M
| til the aggravating animal actually
| stopped and waited for them. When
| they got to within hundred feet or SO
| Of him, and were almost frenzied with
| rage and excitement, away went Rey-
| nard again, with the dogs at his heels.
Another five mile run took us to with
4 in a short distance Of the cover where
| we had first started the fox. Again
1 this most surprising animal began to
lag and show signs of WEAKNESS. A
steady run of twenty miles had told on
| horses, hunters and hounds, and there
| was no reason in the world thought
| why this fox shouldn't now be at the
| end of his endurance. great as he had
| shown it to be. There was a thick
| conse of willow bushes near where we
| had s+or+ad tha fox ana +ba animal