Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/45

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.

winter and finally discarded and forgotten. So he again brought the young foxes to smell the iron scent, which was so much to be dreaded. After smelling the trap for several minutes, and viewing it from all angles, although they did not approach very near to it, Father Fox drove his family away from the scene with great haste, trying to instill into the minds of the young foxes the fact that this was also a dreaded scent.

I do not know whether or not he told them in fox language, that the man was their worst enemy, and that he often set this strange clam which could spring together so quickly, and catch an unsuspecting fox by the paw. I do not know if he told them to beware of this iron smell by the brookside, or in a mossy low lying spot, where they might find it in connection with some dainty food which they did not have to kill. But if it was possible for him to get such a message and such warning across, you may be sure that he did so, for he schooled the four young foxes well in all the dangers of the woods.