"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 about it. That little hatchet-faced fellow is tougher than a boiled owl, and knows almost as much about foxes and birds as I do, and that"s saying a good deal. He"s big, too, for his age, and will be pretty strong, though I don"t suppose he will be as strong as you are. What do you do, Ben, to make you so strong? I could walk the legs off of you; but you"ve got a terrible grip, and throw me just as easy as nothing at all. If you keep on, you"ll be as good a wrestler as Jonas Parker; and he"s the best the whole country round. How do you get so strong?"
"Oh, I dunno! Father"s strong, and mother"s strong. Comes natural, I suppose."
"Well, perhaps so. Father"s a doctor, and my brothers are going to be doctors; but I ain"t. I"m going to be a hunter."
Amos shouted: "h.e.l.lo, Dave and Ben! Where have you been? I"d about g-g-given you up." Amos stammered a little, except when he was stirred up, and then he stammered a good deal.
"Now, don"t you get excited, sonny. We"ve got the whole day before us.
Do you own all these dogs?"
"Oh, d-darn it, Davy, I can"t help it. The whole pack of them keep following me all the time, and if I"ve got a gun, they stick to me like g-g-glue."
"Well! They"re beauties. Regular full-blooded foxhounds, every one of them."
"Oh, get out, Dave. They may not be p-p-pretty, but they hunt almost as g-good as Zabdiel. Come here, Zab, old boy. I"ve been trying to get rid of them for the last two hours. But they seem to g-g-get out about as fast as I p-put them in."
"Well, come on over to Bear"s Hill. That"s the best place. Call your beauties in."
We kept on past Corner Hedge and Pine Grove till we came to Listening Hill. There the hounds struck a scent, lifted up their heads, bayed, and started off on the trail.
At first they went along the foot of Listening Hill, then up it, and over the top. We had to take our rackets off, for it was so rocky and uneven that we could not use them. The rocks stuck up through the snow.
Holding our rackets under our left arms and our guns in our right hands, we followed over the crest of the hill, along the high land, and then down the slope. Here we put on our rackets again. The dogs were far ahead of us. We came to low land with a brook running through it, and in the distance could see the dogs.
[Sidenote: BEAVER HOLES]
"Hold on, boys," said Davy; "this won"t do. That fox is too many for us." And putting his fingers to his mouth, he gave three shrill whistles. "That will call Zab back. It won"t do for us to go fooling round on that swamp. It"s full of holes, six to eight feet deep, that they call beaver holes. I don"t know why; perhaps the beaver made them when they were here. If you get into one of them, it"s all up with you, and the snow covers everything up so smooth that we can"t tell where they are. That fox don"t live here anyway, and is making straight for home, and he may live ten miles off.
"There"s a nice spring of water in the side of Listening Hill. We"d better go over to it and have something to eat, and then we can start out again."
We went to the spring and had a good drink. Then we took out the food that our mothers had put up for us. We munched away, and before long Zab came back.
"I wonder where those other fool dogs are," said Davy.
"Oh, they"re all right. They"ll come to Dog Lane to-night all b-beat out, and they"ll let me alone for a week."
"I tell you what it is," said Davy. "We ought never to have gone on that trail. We ought to have gone to Bear"s Hill, just as we started to.
There"s always some foxes at Bear"s Hill that live there, and don"t want to leave home. Let"s go after them."
After we had eaten our fill we threw the rest of our food on the snow, and Zab gulped it down in no time and had a contented look, probably thinking of those other dogs with their empty bellies.
We started off for Bear"s Hill, and Davy said: "This is a different kind of a place. Foxes that you find here belong here."
[Sidenote: THE FOX HUNT]
We came on a fox track, and Zab started off on it, and we after him.
First we went along one side of the hill, then over it, and we had to take off our rackets again. Then along the foot of the hill, and Davy said: "He lives here. We"ll get him. Pull off your frock, Ben." And he began to pull off his.
"Now, Amos, you go up that lane till you come to a gap in the hill. A stone wall crosses it, and almost always when you hunt round this hill, the fox comes down that gully to the stone wall. Get behind a bush near the wall; and you"ll see the fox come down the hollow to it. And he will put his fore paws up on the wall, and wait a moment to hark for the dog.
When he does that, you give it to him. Take our frocks, and if you feel cold, put one of them on. Wait there, and keep your eyes and ears open."
Amos went up the lane, and we followed Zab. At last he seemed to be coming somewhat toward us.
"Let"s spread out a bit, Ben, and try to head the fox off."
He ran to the right, and I followed him, at some distance behind. We could hear that Zab was coming nearer, as we ran, and at last we heard a bang.
"The little cuss has got him, I"ll bet you. Come on, Ben."
We ran on and came to the gully; and at the lower end of it was Amos, with my frock on, which reached down to the ground. He was holding up the fox, and Zab was jumping up and down.
"Good boy, Amos! Now tell us about it."
"Well, I did just as you t-t-told me, Davy. I went up the lane till I c-came to the gully and saw the stone wall. I found a good b-bush about twenty-five yards from the wall, and got behind it and waited till I began to feel c-cold. I pulled Ben"s frock on, and left the neck of it open so that I could get the stock of the gun in to my shoulder, and spread out your f-frock and knelt on it. Then I heard Zab, and knew that he was c-coming toward me. I got ready and saw the fox creeping down the g-gully, and he did just as you said he would. When he got to the wall he p-put his fore paws upon it, p-p.r.i.c.ked up his ears, and moved them forward and back as he listened for Zab, and I f-fired. I aimed at his b-b-breast and p-put two b-buckshot in his breast and one in his neck."
[Sidenote: DR. FISKE HAS A PATIENT]
"Yer done well, Amos. I couldn"t a done better myself. He has a good fur and is a mighty fine fox."
It was getting pretty well along in the afternoon, and we thought we had had enough of hunting. I picked up the fox and carried it for Amos till we reached Dog Lane, when he left us. We found the partridge where we had tied it to a branch.
When we reached Dr. Fiske"s, his sleigh was in front of the door. The doctor had put on a small riding wig with an eelskin cue, and was getting into his greatcoat.