The fox had left the sugar-loaf and taken to another hill standing half a mile further down the hollow. After playing around there for half an hour, he came back to the hill he had left, and started around it in a direction opposite to that he had at first followed.
Oscar's ears told him all this (he could distinctly hear the hound whenever he rounded the base of the hill nearest the hollow), and he prepared to act accordingly. He moved a little further around his tree, and, keeping his gaze directed up the path, cocked both barrels of his gun and drew it to his shoulder.
He had not occupied this position more than five minutes before the fox came in sight. It was the one he was looking for, as sure as the world, for there was that white tip on the end of his tail, and the rest of him was as black as jet.
He was taking matters very coolly, trotting down the path as though he had no particular business on hand, and the first thing that told him of the hunter's presence was the report of the gun which sent a charge of heavy shot into his head and breast. He bounded high into the air, and when he struck the ground again he rolled rapidly down the hill, sending the twigs and withered leaves in every direction.
He struggled desperately to get upon his feet and continue his flight, but he was too hard hit.
Oscar dashed down the hill after him, and when he came up with the fox, he found him lying motionless on a little pile of leaves, which the winds had heaped against the side of a fallen log. He had robbed his last henroost.
The boy picked him up and looked at him. It was the first black fox he had ever seen; but he had read and heard enough about the species to know that they were very rare and valuable, and he was not a little elated over the success that had attended his hunt.
After loading his gun, Oscar placed his prize on the ground, where he could have a fair view of him, and sat down on the log to admire him and wait for Bugle.
It was an hour or more before the hound appeared, and his long absence accounted for the slow and deliberate movements of the fox. The cunning animal had doubled on his trail, and, by making use of extra speed, had placed such a distance between himself and his pursuer that haste was no longer necessary.