; but two of the
boys held down the cub, and, seizing it by the scruff of the neck, went
off in high glee.

The two friends were looking on all the while, and one of them, raising
his voice, shouted out, "Hallo! you boys! what are you doing with that
fox?"

The eldest of the boys replied, "We're going to take him home and sell
him to a young man in our village. He'll buy him, and then he'll boil
him in a pot and eat him."

"Well," replied the other, after considering the matter attentively, "I
suppose it's all the same to you whom you sell him to. You'd better let
me have him."

"Oh, but the young man from our village promised us a good sum if we
could find a fox, and got us to come out to the hills and catch one; and
so we can't sell him to you at any price."

"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped, then; but how much would the young
man give you for the cub?"

"Oh, he'll give us three hundred cash at least."

"Then I'll give you half a bu;[1] and so you'll gain five hundred cash
by the transaction."

"Oh, we'll sell him for that, sir. How shall we hand him over to you?"

"Just tie him up here," said the other; and so he made fast the cub
round the neck with the string of the napkin in which the luncheon-box
was wrapped, and gave half a bu to the three boys, who ran away
delighted.

The man's friend, upon this, said to him: "Well, certainly you have got
queer tastes. What on earth are you going to keep the fox for?"

"How very unkind of you to speak of my tastes like that. If we had not
interfered just now, the fox's cub would have lost its life. If we had
not seen the affair, there would have been no help for it. How could I
stand by and see life taken? It was but a little I spent--only half a
bu--to save the cub, but had it cost a fortune I should not have grudged
it. I thought you were intimate enough with me to know my heart; but
to-day you have accused me of being eccentric, and I see how mistaken I
have been in you. However, our friendship shall cease from this day
forth."

And when he had said this with a great deal of firmness, the other,
retiring backward and bowing with his hands on his knees, replied:

"Indeed, indeed, I am filled with admiration at the goodness of your
heart. When I hear you speak thus, I feel more than ever how great is
the love I bear you. I thought that you might wish to use the cub as a
sort of decoy to lead the old ones to you, that you might pray them to
bring prosperi