y had I got back to my stand than I heard Little John leap into the
ditch his side: the next minute I saw the body of the rabbit which he
had killed thrown out into the field.

I stood behind a somewhat advanced bush that came out into the meadow
like a buttress, and kept an eye on the holes along the bank. It is
essential to stand well back from the holes, and, if possible, out of
sight. In a few moments something moved, and I saw the head of a rabbit
at the mouth of a hole just behind the net. He looked through the meshes
as through a lattice, and I could see his nostrils work, as he
considered within himself how to pass this thing. It was but for a
moment; the ferret came behind, and wild with hereditary fear, the
rabbit leaped into the net.

The force of the spring not only drew the net together, but dragged out
the peg, and rabbit and net inextricably entangled rolled down the bank
to the bottom of the ditch. I jumped into the ditch and seized the net;
when there came a hoarse whisper: 'Look sharp you, measter: put up
another net fust--_he_ can't get out; hould un under your arm, _or in
your teeth_.'

I looked up, and saw Little John's face peering over the mound. He had
thrust himself up under the bushes; his hat was off; his weather-beaten
face bleeding from a briar, but he could not feel the scratch so anxious
was he that nothing should escape. I pulled another net from my pocket,
and spread it roughly over the hole; then more slowly took the rabbit
from the other net.

You should never hold a rabbit up till you have got fast hold of his
hind legs; he will so twist and work himself as to get free from any
other grasp. But when held by the hind legs and lifted from the ground
he can do nothing. I now returned to my buttress of bushes and waited.
The rabbits did not bolt my side again for a while. Every now and then I
saw, or heard, Orion or Little John leap into their ditch, and well knew
what it meant before the dead rabbit was cast out to fall with a
helpless thud upon the sward.

Once I saw a rabbit's head at the mouth of a hole, and momentarily
expected him to dart forth driven by the same panic fear. But either the
ferret passed, or there was another side-tunnel--the rabbit went back.
Some few minutes afterwards Little John exclaimed: 'Look out, you;
ferret's out!' One of the ferrets had come out of a hole and was
aimlessly--as it appeared--roaming along the bank.

As he came nearest my side, I got qu