76 THE LIFE OF A FOX.

or never could do; and if he did by accident get
in time to see me at all, the consequence was, that
when I saw him I went back again into the covert,
and then, if there was any fresh fox or foxes in it,
they were pretty sure to be changed and hunted,
and I escaped. It generally happened that I had
gone on through the covert before the whipper-in
got round, in time to see, not me, but a fresh fox
go away, to which he would probably halloo on
the hounds, and, not knowing the difference, de-
clare it was the hunted one’.

I suppose you will now not wonder that
I have lived to so great. an age in this
country. It is. true I have had some narrow
escapes within the last few seasons, particularly
one in the year 1840, when I was found by the
hounds then belonging to Mr. Smith, and in
consequence of beating them, called the Hero
of Waterloo. I attributed my escape to the sys-
tem above described and adopted by the men on

that occasion, when the hounds were hallooed

+ Vide “ Extracts from the Diary of a Huntsman.”