thunder sticks, and Mother Fox pitched headlong in the snow.
Bang! Bang! went the thunder sticks again and a pellet stung the flank of Cross Fox, while another passed through Redcoat's ear.
But these sounds only lent wings to the legs of the terrified foxes, so they fled on along the mountain range to the east. The cries of the pack grew fainter and fainter in the distance and were finally lost, but after two hours the hounds came straggling back, for a pack will often quit after a six or eight mile straight-away run. So, Redcoat and Cross Fox gave them the slip that time. Long after dark they came back to the spruces and found Little Brother and Fuzzy waiting for them.
The next fox hunt was held in the great meadows on the west side of the river. It was an unwritten law in fox cunning, known to all mature foxes, that one should not cross the river until after it had frozen over. The broad plank trail that the man-creatures used was not a safe trail for foxes.
