A _Fox_ that had been Hard-run, begg’d of a Countryman that he saw at
Work in a Wood, to help him to some Hiding-Place. The Man Directed him
to his Cottage, and thither he went. He was no sooner got in, but the
_Huntsmen_ were presently at the Heels of him, and asked the Cottager
if he did not see a _Fox_ That Way? No truly, says he, I saw None; but
Pointed at the same time with his Finger to the Place where he lay. The
_Huntsmen_ did not take the Hint, it seems; but the _Fox_ spy’d him,
however, through a Peeping-Hole he had found out to see what News: so the
_Fox-Hunters_ went their Way, and then Out steals the _Fox_, without One
Word speaking. Why how now, says the Man, Han’t ye the Manners to take
leave of your Host before you go? Yes, yes, says the _Fox_; if you had
been as Honest of your Fingers, as you were of your Tongue, I should not
have gone without bidding ye Farewell.
The MORAL.
_A Man may tell a Lye by Signs, as well as in Words at length, and his
Conscience is as Answerable for his Fingers, as for his Tongue._