be one would answer him from behind the woods in the
valley, a fitting sound amid the ghostly winter hills.

The red fox was the only species that abounded in this locality. On my
way to school in the morning, after a fresh fall of snow, I would see
at many points where he had crossed the road. Here he had leisurely
passed within rifle-range of the house, evidently reconnoitring the
premises with an eye to the hen-roost. That clear, sharp track,--there
was no mistaking it for the clumsy footprint of a little dog. All his
wildness and agility were photographed in it. Here he had taken fright,
or suddenly recollected an engagement, and in long, graceful leaps,
barely touching the fence, had gone careering up the hill as fleet as
the wind.

The usual gait of the fox, unlike that of the dog, is, at night at
least, a walk. On such occasions he is in quest of game and he goes
through the woods and fields in an alert, stealthy manner, stepping
about a foot at a time, and keeping his eyes and ears open.

The wild, buoyant creature, how beautiful he is! I had often seen his
dead carcass, and at a distance had witnessed the hounds drive him
across the upper fields; but the thrill and excitement of meeting him in
his wild freedom in the woods were unknown to me till, one cold winter
day, drawn thither by the baying of a hound, I stood near the summit of
the mountain, waiting a renewal of the sound, that I might determine the
course of the dog and choose my position,--stimulated by the ambition of
all young Nimrods to bag some notable game. Long I waited, and
patiently, till, chilled and benumbed, I was about to turn back, when,
hearing a slight noise, I looked up and beheld a most superb fox, loping
along with inimitable grace and ease, evidently disturbed, but not
pursued by the hound, and so absorbed in his private meditations that he
failed to see me, though I stood transfixed with amazement and
admiration, not ten yards distant. I took his measure at a glance,--a
large male, with dark legs, and massive tail tipped with white,--a most
magnificent creature; but so astonished and fascinated was I by this
sudden appearance and matchless beauty, that not till I had caught the
last glimpse of him, as he disappeared over a knoll, did I awake to my
duty as a sportsman, and realize what an opportunity to distinguish
myself I had unconsciously let slip. I clutched my gun, half angrily, as
if it was to blame, and went home out of humor