El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-12-18
The HeraId's Daily
Short Story

. what he was doing. He knew the next
I instant for the fox sWished round, and
there followed a small WhiIt wind OF
/ furry bodies emphasized by frant-~ sells
/ from the mongrel. Foxes are very sur
~ and uucompanionable beasts at the
best Of times, so that little dog could
not expect anything else tEan a thrash
( ing Tor taking liberties. The argument
was, however, cut short by the farmer
who fired a gun at them from a bed
room window, and the pair went away
opposite ways-in a hurry.
Just as there are some days when
the luck turns against the shooter, so
there are some nights when Fortune
refuses to favor the wild hunter. OF
course, wild hunters are not by any
means always successful in their stalks
or their springs as most people think.
Even a tiger may have many unsuccess-
iul tries before he secures a kill %
And so 1t was with the fox. In fact il
was not till he was going home at
dawn. savage and morose because he
was taking nothing back TO- his mate
lhat he espied rabbits playing far out
In the open,
Stalking was out Of the question, so
ne tried an old trick. He walked de-
liberately out into the open, too, and
rolled dog-fashion. Of course the rab-
bits saw him instantly. but, after a
careIul scouting, came to the cOnclu-
sion that he was fulfilled and merely
playfuli otherwise he would have stalk
cd In this they were acting en- ex-
perlence, OF course, for they had often
seen fulfilled foxes roll openly What
they did not observe was that the fox
as time wore on, was gradually rolling
nearer till suddenly, with a leap and
a rush, he was upon them, and had
ooWled over one before you could wink
an eyelid.
Then he returned TO the "earthp
under the roots Of an old tree in the
Next night when all was stiH, and
the last keeper had gone his rounds
and the last farmer retired to bed,
our FOX might have been seen gliding
under hedgerow to the farm; his mate
mad met with a slight accident to one
paw, which would keep her from hunt
ING Tor quite three days so he had 10
forage for both
This time there was no preliminary
waiting behind the haystack After
twice circling the farm to analyze all
the scents Of the place, he crawIed
straight INTO the farmhouse, and got
10 WORK Let there be no mistake, how
ever our fox was not by any means a
1901 The dead fowl placed outside
qiq not appeal TO him in the least; nor
qld the hole under the fowlhouse, made
oy himself the night before and osten-
iauously left open by the farmer, re-
celIe MS patronage. He knew there
was trap under the former, and sus-
pected one under the latter
am not going to tell you exactly
what happened after that fox got into
Lnat farmhouse, because the WAYS OF
IoAes when they get too much to slay
are not nice SutIice it to say thar ne
Stew seven fine, healthy young pullets.
one ne honestly ate, five he merely
spoiled, and one, the largest, he took
back to his mate.
Later, also he returned for another
which he hid under a dense holly
2 . a
don't know whether the hounds
really meant to draw" that covert that
Jay or whether, when the farmer went
ana raved at him about the dead fowls,
ne nun tsman guessed II was the work
OF old saddle back" Be that as 1t
may, our fox, who had given up his
earth" to his mate and slept in a
Dfacken-brake hard by. was suddenly
aware Of a brown, notified breast
bursting upon him about noon. Of DASH
ing into his hole only to find it stop /
pea up, and Of racing away for dear
ne with the whole pack IN full cry at !
HIS heels
Then that pack Of hounds learned :
something which they did not know
oeIoFe- Ihey learnt that there was a I
single wild animal who could beat !
them hands down. who beat them again 1
ana again. and who could Taught at I
them-al 20 couple Of them. It was
humiliating.
Inc fox began by twisting his tail !
IN IN a figure of eight all in and put /
found sandpit, and danced about in /
H. sand not carrying scent we'll; then
ne ran along a wall. jumped down one !
sac TOOK three huge leaps, and bound /
ed clean over to the other; then he
swan down a river, got out ran a lit
tie way back and swan up stream from
d point further mp than the point from
Whlch ne mad first started; then he
routed out two more foxes Of his ac-
qualntance and mixed his trail with
theirs, and al last he ran down the
smart OF a disused mine and anyone
could follow him down there-ff he
laret
None did dare, however. and that
light, when the moon was up. he |
calmly returned to his mate with the
biggest latest rabbit in his mouth
mat ever you clapped your eyes upon. /
He had found a whole colony Of them
living down that mine shaft.