THE LIFE OF A FOX. 29

pain which he suffered prevented him from more
than mumbling me with his teeth; so I got off, .
and made the best of my way to the covert that
evening.

I felt next day that, bruised as I was, I
could not have escaped for ten minutes from
a pack of hounds, had they found me; I there-
fore lost no time in reaching a main earth, into
which I got before the earth-stopper had put
to; but I had scarcely done so when he came,
at daylight, and to my great dismay stopped it
up. I remained there all day, and till late at
night, and no one came to open it, and, had
I not contrived to scratch my way out, I know
not how long I might have remained there;
for I have reason to know that many of us
are stopped up in rocky earths and drains for
weeks, and starved to death, owing to the for-
getfulness or sheer cruelty of the stoppers.
I have heard such sad tales as—but just now
it would interrupt my story to tell them.

It so happened, my friends, that for some
time I was not hunted by hounds, and con-

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