d the
second embarrass the ferret and sometimes catch in projecting rootlets
and hold it fast. He has, too, a line--many yards of stout twine wound
about a short stick--to line a ferret if necessary.

The ferrets are placed in a smaller bag, tightly tied at the top--for
they will work through and get out if any aperture be left. Inside the
bag is a little hay for them to lay on. He prefers the fitchew ferret as
he calls it; that is the sort that are coloured like a polecat. He says
they are fiercer, larger of make and more powerful. But he has also a
couple of white ones with pink eyes. Besides the sack of nets, the bag
of ferrets, and a small bundle in a knotted handkerchief--his
'nuncheon'--which in themselves make a tolerable load, he has brought a
billhook, and a 'navigator,' or draining-tool.

This is a narrow spade of specially stout make; the blade is hollow and
resembles an exaggerated gouge, and the advantage is that in digging out
a rabbit the tool is very apt to catch under a root, when an ordinary
spade may bend and become useless. The 'navigator' will stand anything,
and being narrow is also more handy. All these implements Little John
has prepared by the dim light of a horn lantern in the shed at the back
of his cottage. A mug of ale while we get our guns greatly cheers him,
and unlooses his tongue.

All the way to Redcote he impresses on us the absolute necessity of
silence while ferreting, and congratulates us on having a nearly still
day. He is a little doubtful about Orion's spaniel and whether it will
keep quiet or not.

When we reach the double-mound, his talk entirely ceases: he is as
silent and as rugged as a pollard oak. By the top of the mound the sack
of nets is thrown down on the sward and opened. As there are more holes
on the other side of the hedge Orion goes over with Little John, and I
proceed to set up the nets on mine.

I found some difficulty in getting at the bank, the bushes being so
thick, and had to use the billhook and chop a way in: I heard Little
John growling about this in a whisper to Orion. Very often before going
with the ferrets, people send a man or two a few hours previously to
chop and clear the bushes. The effect is that the rabbits will not bolt
freely. They hear the men chopping, and the vibration of the earth as
they clumsily climb over the banks, and will not come out till
absolutely forced. If it is done at all, it should be done a week
beforehand. That was wh