ee a rabbit bolt into one
of my nets, I heard Little John moving some leaves, and then he shouted,
'Give I a net, you--quick. Lor! here be another hole: he's coming!' I
looked over the mound and saw Little John, his teeth set and staring at
a hole which had no net, his great hands open ready to pounce instantly
like some wild animal on its prey. In an instant the rabbit bolted--he
clutched it and clasped it tight to his chest. There was a moment of
struggling, the next the rabbit was held up for a moment and then cast
across his knee.

It was always a sight to see Little John's keen delight in 'wristing'
their necks. He affected utter unconsciousness of what he was doing,
looked you in the face, and spoke about some indifferent subject. But
all the while he was feeling the rabbit's muscles stretch before the
terrible grasp of his hands, and an expression of complacent
satisfaction flitted over his features as the neck gave with a sudden
looseness, and in a moment what had been a living straining creature
became limp.

The ferret came out after the rabbit; he immediately caught it and
thrust it into his pocket. There were still two ferrets in--one that was
suspected to be gorging on a rabbit in a _cul de sac_, and the other
lined, and which had gone to join that sanguinary feast. The use of the
line was to trace where the loose ferret lay. 'Chuck I the show'l,
measter,' said Little John.

I gave the 'navigator' tool a heave over the hedge; it fell and stuck
upright in the sward. Orion handed it to him. He first filled up the
hole from which a rabbit had just bolted with a couple of 'spits,'
_i.e._ spadefuls, and then began to dig on the top of the mound.

This digging was very tedious. The roots of the thorn bushes and trees
constantly impeded it, and had to be cut. Then upon at last getting down
to the hole, it was found that the right place had not been hit by
several feet. Here was the line and the lined ferret--he had got hitched
in a projecting root, and was furiously struggling to go forward to the
feast of blood.

Another spell of digging--this time still slower because Little John was
afraid lest the edge of his tool should suddenly slip through and cut
his ferret on the head, and perhaps kill it. At last the place was
reached and the ferret drawn forth still clinging to its victim. The
rabbit was almost beyond recognition as a rabbit. The poor creature had
been stopped by a _cul de sac_, and the ferret cam