h with foxes till the sun is well up
and warms the scent."

The doctor came to the door and said:--

"Don't mind David, Benny. You're early enough. But he's crazy about
hunting, and wants to be at it all the time. It would be better for him
if he spent less time at it."

"Father told me to give his respects to you, sir."

"All right, Benny. Now, boys, take things easy, or you'll be tired out
before you see a fox."

[Sidenote: ZABDIEL]

As Davy and I skimmed along over the snow, the day began to break. We
had only one dog with us, but he was a real good one. His name was
Zabdiel.

"That's a good dog, Davy, but he's got the funniest name for a dog I
ever heard. How did he get it?"

"Oh, I dunno! Father gave it to him. There was a doctor in Boston
started this inoculation business for the smallpox. Folks were about
ready to tear his house down; but he kept on inoculating, his patients
didn't die, and finally people let up on him. Father thinks a heap of
this inoculation and sets a store by this Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, and
named his best horse and dog after him."

"But I should think we ought to have more than one dog with us, Davy."

"Well, ain't we going over to Dog Lane, to pick up little Amos Locke?
Every one over there hunts and has a dog. When we get there, you'll find
Amos walking up and down, and all the dogs of Dog Lane following him.
You won't be looking for dogs when you get there. The question will be,
how to get rid of them."

Just then Davy held up his hand. "Hush, Ben," and pointed to a spot
where the snow had been shaken up. "Give me a racket." I did so. He held
it over the spot, and stuck his hand under it into the snow. Something
darted up against the racket, and at the same time I was covered with
snow from head to foot, and a partridge flew off. Davy laughed. "Why
didn't you catch him, Ben? I got one." He drew his hand out with a
partridge in it. He twisted its neck, and we started on again.

"The partridges dive down into the snow, and sleep there, but I don't
see why those two went to bed so late after the storm was over.
Something must have disturbed them. If I hadn't the racket to clap over
the place, I should have lost him. I learned that trick from Amos
Locke's father.

"But there is Amos, waiting for us, with all the dogs of Dog Lane about
him. What did I tell you about dogs?"

"Isn't Amos rather young to go fox-hunting, Davy?"

[Sidenote: AMOS LOCKE]

"Sho! That's all you know