UZ GAUNT'S TALK ABOUT TURTLES. 277 



though you hit an empty barrel, as near as I can tell 

 you. I'd a turtle down in the mud, and concluded to 

 bring it out into the daylight. There's more than one 

 way to do this, but none of 'em is an easy job to get 

 through with. I kept probin' 'round him, to try and 

 make out where his head was, and then I could feel for 

 his tail, and pull him out. " Now this does very well for 

 one of your common snappers, but didn't work so easy in 

 this case. I could sort of feel that turtle all over the 

 meadow. Wherever I put my cane down, I seemed to 

 come to his back shell ; but after edgin' out a bit for some 

 time I could make out the rim of it, and I tell you he was 

 a whopper, accordin' to my probin'. That turtle seemed 

 about as big 'round as a wash-tub, and I got regularly 

 worked up about him. I wasn't in trim for huntin', but 

 didn't care. I'd found a turtle that was worth havin', and 

 I meant to have him. Probin' showed he was about 

 three feet deep in the mud, but I made up my mind to 

 locate his tail and then reach down for him. So I did, 

 but it was no use. I felt about, and got one ugly scratch 

 from a hind foot, but he kept his tail out of reach, or 

 hadn't any ; I didn't know which, then. After thinkin' 

 a spell, I concluded I'd try to get a pry under him, and 

 went for a fence-rail. It took me some time to get what 

 I wanted, and when I got back that turtle had got out. 

 I probed all 'round, but he'd moved. This rather took 

 me down, but I kept up my hunt, and after a bit found 

 he'd moved straight for the main ditch, and was tearin' 

 up the mud on the bottom as he went. This was all 

 that saved him for me, and I no sooner learned his 

 whereabouts than I went for him in earnest. I ran the 

 rail I had right under him, and tried to lift him up. 

 Thunder and lightnin', boy, you might as well try to lift a 

 steer. I disturbed him, though, and checked his course a 



