8 THE LIFE OF «A FOX,

about the wood, and who noticing them, procured
@ long stick and thrust it into the earth, nearly
breaking the ribs of one of my brothers. When
they pulled it out again, they found the end of it
covered with his hairs, This satisfied them, and
leaving us scrambling and huddling together up to
the back of the earth, they went away, resolving
to come back next day with tools to unearth us,
and expecting, as they said, to sell us for half.a-
guinea a-piece,
. “*Twas a ’nation pity,” added one of them,
“we hadun’t brought my little terrier, Vick; she
would have fetched ’em out alive in her mouth,
without our having the trouble of digging, though
they was as big as the old ’un.” :
* Mind,” said the other, “we beant seen, or
else the squire will gie us notice to keep off.”
‘Their intentions were defeated ; for our mother,
who had been all the time watching their goings
on, anxiously waited for their departure, and no
sooner had night set in, than she again removed us
to a gorse covert hard by, and placed us in a

nicely sheltered spot, where she herself had often