A'S STORY.

"NOW, papa, for another army story," said little Eddie, as he climbed
into papa's lap, and prepared himself to listen.

Papa closed his eyes, stroked his whiskers; and Eddie knew the story was
coming. This is it,--

One day, when we were camping in Virginia, some
of us got leave to go into the woods for
chestnuts, which grew there in great abundance.
We were busy picking up the nuts, when we heard
a scrambling in the bushes. We thought it was a
dog.

"_Was_ it a dog?" asks Eddie.

"No, it was not a dog."

"Was it a cat?"

"No, it was not a cat."

"O papa! _was_ it a _bear_?"

[Illustration]

"No, it was not a bear."

"Do tell me what it was!"

"Well, let me go on with my story, and you shall hear."

It was a fox. How he did run when he saw us! We
ran after him, and chased him into a pile of
rails, in one corner of the camp.

You see, the soldiers had torn down all the
fences, and piled them up for fire-wood. The
fox ran right in among the rails; and, the more
he tried to get out, the more he couldn't.

"A fox, a fox!" we shouted; hearing which, all
the men, like so many boys, rushed up, and made
themselves into a circle around the wood-pile,
so that poor foxy was completely hemmed in.

Then a few of us went to work, and removed the
rails one by one, until at last he was clear,
and we could all see him. With a bound, he
tried to get away; but the men kept their legs
very close together, and he was a prisoner. We
got one of the tent-ropes and tried to tie him.

_Such_ a time as we had! One man got bitten;
but after a while foxy was caught. Then what
did the cunning little thing do but make
believe he was dead! Foxes are very cunning:
they can play dead at any time.

He lay on the ground quite still, while he was
tied, and the rope was made fast to a tree.
When we all stepped back, he tried again to get
away. The rope held him fast; but he bit so
nearly through it, that we feared we should
lose him, after all.

So off rushed one of the boys, and borrowed a
chain from one of the wagons at headquarters.
With this Master Fox was made quite secure.

We tried to tame him; for, being