We boys had often used this tree in playing Swiss Family
Robinson, and by cutting steps in its soft punky walls had made it
easy to go up and down in the hollow. Now it came in handy, for
next day when the sun was warm I went there to watch, and from
this perch on the roof, I soon saw the interesting family that lived
in the cellar near by. There were four little foxes; they looked
curiously like little lambs, with their woolly coats, their long thick
legs and innocent expressions, and yet a second glance at their
broad, sharp-nosed, sharp-eyed visages showed that each of these
innocents was the makings of a crafty old fox.

They played about, basking in the sun, or wrestling with each other
till a slight sound made them scurry under ground. But their alarm
was needless, for the cause of it was their mother; she stepped
from the bushes bringing another hen--number seventeen as I
remember. A low call from her and the little fellows came
tumbling out. Then began a scene that I thought charming, but
which my uncle would not have enjoyed at all.

They rushed on the hen, and tussled and fought with it, and each
other, while the mother, keeping a sharp eye for enemies, looked
on with fond delight. The expression on her face was remarkable.
It was first a grinning of delight, but her usual look of wildness and
cunning was there, nor were cr~1ty and nervo~isuess lAcklng, hut
over all was the unmistakable look of the mother's pride and love.

The base of my tree was hidden in bushes and much lower than the
knoll where the den wash So I could come and go at will without
scaring the foxes.