Blue Lady, who had never known anything else but confinement, sought to console him, but he was unconsolable. With each day his discontent grew until it finally became an obsession, so that the better part of the night he would prowl about the yard and dig about the fence, seeking for some way out. Finally there was born in his crafty mind a plan, and this he confided to Blue Lady as well as he could through the limited language of a fox. At first she was doubtful, but finally she caught his enthusiasm and entered fully into his plan. So one night at about eight o'clock, after the keeper had scrutinized all the pens and gone home, Redcoat with the assistant of his mate began his desperate adventure.
Meanwhile, the Meadowdale Fox Club had gone on several unsuccessful hunts. Day after day they had sought to start the Phantom Fox but without success. He had disappeared as completely as though the earth had opened and swallowed him, or as one of the hunters said, that he had jumped on the cow-catcher of a passing train and gone
