Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/155

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He took one of the pups and carried it fifty rods over the mountainside and hid it in a hollow in the rocks. But, the Fox family had not yet learned the lesson of obedience, so when he went back after another the little fox came whimpering after him. Again he grabbed it unceremoniously in his mouth and started further down the mountain on the side which was away from the fire. It was now daylight and Kitty Mason had come up into her father's pasture to watch the smoke which was curling up over the mountain, obscuring the sunrise, and to see if she could discover any of the fire-fighters. Thus it happened that in a little woodland path half way up the mountain, she came face to face with Redcoat fleeing from the fire with his offspring.

Usually Redcoat would have bolted at sight of her but he was now so disturbed and unnerved by the terrible night that he stood for a moment uncertain. This was not the man creature, although it had the same scent its form was different, and Redcoat's intuitions told him that the girl coming along the