y Little John grumbled at my chopping though he
knew it was necessary.

To set up a rabbit net you must arrange it so that it covers the whole
of the mouth of the hole, for if there is any opening between it and the
bank the rabbit will slip through. He will not face the net unless
obliged to. Along the upper part, if the bank is steep, so that the net
will not lie on it of itself, two or three little twigs should be thrust
through the meshes into the earth to suspend it.

These twigs should be no larger than are used by birds in constructing
their nests; just strong enough to hold the net in place and no more. On
the other hand, care must be taken that no stout projecting root catches
a corner of the net, else it will not draw up properly and the rabbit
will escape.

Little John, not satisfied with my assurance that I had netted all the
holes my side, now came over--crawling on hands and knees that he might
not jar the bank--to examine for himself. His practised eye detected two
holes that I had missed: one on the top of the mound much overhung by
dead grass, and one under a stole. These he attended to. He then crawled
up on the mound two or three yards below the end of the bury, and with
his own hands stretched a larger net right across the top of the bank,
so that if a rabbit did escape he would run into this. To be still more
sure he stretched another similar net across the whole width of the
mound at the other end of the bury.

He then undid the mouth of the ferret-bag, holding it between his
knees--the ferrets immediately attempted to struggle out: he selected
two and then tied it up again. With both these in his own hands, for he
would trust nothing to another, he slipped quietly back to Orion's side,
and so soon as he saw I was standing well back placed them in different
holes.

Almost the next instant one came out my side disarranging a net. I got
into the ditch, hastily reset the net, and put the ferret to an adjacent
hole, lifting up the corner of the net there for it to creep in. Unlike
the weasel, a ferret once outside a hole seems at a loss, and wanders
slowly about, till chance brings him to a second. The weasel used to
hunting is no sooner out of one hole than he darts away to the next. But
this power the ferret has partially lost from confinement.

For a moment the ferret hesitated inside the hole, as if undecided which
of two passages to take: then he started, and I lost sight of his tail.
Hardl