Page:Redcoat (1927).djvu/115

 too much for him. Hectoring the Buck was playing with lightning, but Redcoat did not know it.

This time, Brown Buck did not wait to be teased, but charged furiously, snorting and stamping. Out and in Redcoat raced, through brambles and thickets, the death dealing hoofs coming down again and again in the spot where the agile fox had been a second before.

At last, in an unfortunate moment, Redcoat stepped upon a thorn which pierced the pad of his forefoot. For a second he flinched and his attention was distracted from his pursuer. This moment almost cost him his life, for Brown Buck's hoofs again came down like a piledriver, and struck the fox a glancing blow on the shoulder.

Redcoat needed no further punishment to acquaint him with his danger, and he ran for the deep woods as he had never run before, regardless of the thorn in his foot. At this point in the mad chase, Bud Holcome appeared and began whistling shrilly and calling, "Scottie! Scottie! Scottie!"