It seemed that the ten minutes start that the children had agreed to give Uncle Hambright would never come to an end, so eager were they to begin the hunt. By-and-by the time came, and they were off. The first few foxes had been drawn on the board-walk, so the hunters had easy sailing for a little while. Pretty soon, however, one of the girls discovered a fox on a tree, and the head of the fox pointed right into the woods. At first the children halted. The eldest girl said finally, after studying a few minutes,——
“Let’s go on; Uncle Hambright wouldn’t take us where anything could hurt us, and, besides, he said he would be waiting at the end.”
Thus reassured, all of them plunged into the woods. Once in the woods the little foxes drawn on trees and stumps carried them right along by the side of a babbling brook for a long distance. Sometimes they would find one fox, and then they would find it very hard to locate the next one. It was great fun for them to scurry about in the woods, examining trees, stumps, rocks and everything, hunting for the foxes. Finally one of the little girls found a fox on a fence. The head of the fox pointed upwards. The little child said,——
“This little fox seems to be pointing to heaven; I’m sure we can’t go up there.”
“Oh, no;” said the oldest girl, again coming to the rescue,—“I think that that little fox leads over the fence—that’s all.”
So, over the fence they jumped and continued the chase.
[Illustration: “YOU ALL WAIT UNTIL I COME BACK, AND THEN WE’LL PLAY AT FOX-HUNTING.”]
The course proved to be zig-zag now for a few minutes, and the children found the foxes more and more difficult to locate. They felt safe again, when the foxes were found on stones or rocks leading up the side of a hill. The woods began to thin out, and the children were no longer timid. Up the hill they went with a merry laugh and a shout. Once on top of the hill, they lost their course again. After a time, they found a fox, though, and that fox pointed straight down the hill. The children bravely followed. At the foot of the hill, they came suddenly upon an open space, and close by there was a great big fox marked upon a piece of black paste-board and standing right over a bubbling spring of water.