But
although a few shillings were of consequence to him, it really did not
seem to be the money-value but the sport that he loved. To him that
sport was all-absorbing.
His ferrets were well looked after, and he sometimes sold one for a good
price to keepers. As a rule a man who keeps ferrets is suspected: but
Little John was too well understood, and he had no difficulty in begging
a little milk for them.
His tenacity in pursuit of a rabbit was always a source of wonder to me.
In rain, in wind, in frost; his feet up to the ankle in the ice-cold
slush at the bottom of a ditch: no matter what the weather or how rough,
he patiently stood to his nets. I have known him stand the whole day
long in a snowstorm--the snow on the ground and in the holes, the flakes
drifting against his face--and never once show impatience. All he
disliked was wind--not on account of discomfort, but because the
creaking of the branches and the howling of the blast made such a noise
that it was impossible to tell where the rabbit would bolt.
He congratulated himself that evening because he had recovered all his
ferrets. Sometimes one will lie in and defy all efforts to bring it out.
One plan is to place a dead fresh rabbit at the mouth of the hole which
may tempt the ferret to come and seize it. In large woods there are
generally one or more ferrets wandering loose in the season, that have
escaped from the keepers or poachers.
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