2 THE LIFE OF A FOX.

“ Well, I’d give a good deal to know what
became of our fox,—how was it he could have
beaten us? There is nothing I should like better
than to invite to supper all the foxes that have
escaped from packs by which they have been
respectively hunted to-day, and then persuade
them to declare to what cause they owed their
escape. ‘To tempt them there should be, rabbits
at top, rabbits at bottom and sides, rabbits cur-
ried, fricaseed, and rabbits dressed in every
imaginable way, by the best French cook.”

The thought pleased me, and resolving to gra-
tify my own curiosity, I invited all of my friends
who had at any time beaten some pack of repute.

It was a,fine moonlight night, in the middle of
summer, when ten of my guests, besides an
interloper, a stranger to us all, arrived at the
place appointed, beneath an old oak tree in
the New Forest.

For the foundation of my feast, nothing could
be better than the bill of fare projected by the
hospitable hunter ; but as I knew that my friends
would prefer every thing au naturel, I dispensed