mong whom they
presented themselves. This Fox, on the contrary, wore all his native
luxuriance of fur, and, by the way he carried his great brush of a tail,
seemed not a little proud of it.

When he got within a few steps of us, he addressed me in broken
Caneville dialect, and offered his services to show me the way through
the wood. "It was a short cut," he said, "and would save me a good deal
of ground, which I should be obliged to go over if I went round the
forest."

Without paying attention to the nods or winks of Snub, which were
however so violent as almost to upset his load, I accepted his polite
offer with thanks, and bidding my valet, who walked very glumpily
behind, to keep close by, I followed my polite guide, who at once
entered a little path through two tall trees.

The shade grew thicker as we advanced, and I observed that the path
got not only narrower, but was in some places almost invisible. It was
evidently very little used, and unaccustomed as I had been of late to
the country, I did not feel quite comfortable in thus penetrating deeper
and deeper into the solitude; still I did not like to show any fear,
more particularly as I was rather annoyed at the conduct of Snub, who,
close behind me with the box upon his head, kept grumbling at its weight
one minute, and actually growling in an under-tone at our guide the
next.

The conduct of that guide did not exactly please me; for in his evident
wish to prevent my being alarmed, he kept chatter, chatter, chatter,
with all his might, and still went on, his sharp eyes here, there, and
everywhere at once, in a most disagreeable manner.

We at last reached an open space, covered over with grass, and here and
there strewn with immense masses of rock. The overhanging branches of
the trees were, however, so closely intertwined, that no ray of sun, and
very little light, could penetrate into it. Here I stopped short and
declared I would go no further; an exclamation which seemed to arouse
Mr. Fox's anger, for he came towards me with a threatening look that
alarmed me not a little. I stepped back to avoid him, when Snub--as if
by accident, although I felt sure the good dog knew perfectly well what
he was about--by a dexterous stumble pitched the box off his head right
against the Fox. It was only by the greatest agility that he avoided the
heavy weight falling on and crushing him; as it was, he could not get
his long tail out of the way in time, for the box c