his hands clasped under his coat-tails. Why 
the animal did not kill the crow at the first snap 
is a little strange, but he heard Uncle Pete’s 
yell the instant he sprang; and the moment he 
struck the ground he departed in haste. It was 
a very much frightened and disheveled crow that 
a few minutes later went hobbling back along 
the road toward the plantation house. 
One day the menagerie came to an end, for 
young Howard was going away to school. His 
father thought that the owl and the coon 
should be killed, because such creatures are 
generally regarded as undesirable neighbors 
around a plantation; but Howard would not 
consent to this, so both were liberated, and the 
squirrels also were set free. 
Howard’s father drove with him twenty miles 
to the railroad station, and the young man saw 
no more of the plantation for some time. I 
suspect he looked very handsome in his fine 
uniform when he paraded with other cadets in 
front of the Citadel, or in the evening walked 
down King Street, or loitered under the oaks at 
the Battery. 
144 
