Meadows looked up contemptuously; but as he could not afford to let such a sneak as Crawley think him anything short of invincible, he said coolly, “He is, and I have measured cunning with a fox.”
“You have? That must have been a tight match.”
“A fox used to take my chickens one hard winter; an old fox cautious and sly as the Jew you rate so high. The men sat up with guns for him—no; a keeper set traps in a triangle for him—no. He had the eye of a hawk, the ear of a hare, and his own nose. He would have the chickens, and he would not get himself into trouble. The women complained to me of the fox. I turned a ferret loose into the rabbit-hutch, and in half a minute there was as nice a young rabbit dead as ever you saw.”
“Lookee there now,” cried Crawley.
“I choked the ferret off, but never touched the rabbit. I took the rabbit with a pair of tongs; the others had handled their baits and pug crept round 'em and nosed the trick. I poured twenty drops of croton oil into the little hole ferret had made in bunny's head, and I dropped him in the grass near pug's track. Next morning rabbit had been drawn about twenty yards and the hole in his head was three times as big. Pug went the nearest way to blood; went in at ferret's hole. I knew he would.”
“Yes, sir! yes! yes! yes! and there lay the fox.”
“No signs of him. Then I said: 'Go to the nearest water. Croton oil makes 'em dry.' They went along the brook—and on the very bank there lay an old dog-fox blown up like bladder, as big as a wolf and as dead as a herring. Now for the Jew. Look at that;” and he threw him a paper.
“Why, this is the judgment on which I arrested Will Fielding, and here is the acceptance.”
“Levi bought them to take the man out of my power. He left them with old Cohen. I have got them again, you see, and got young Fielding in my power spite of his foxy friend.”
“Capital, sir, capital!” cried the admiring Crawley. He then looked at the reconquered documents. “Ah!” said he, spitefully, “how I wish I could alter one of these names, only one!”