A BEAK IN DIFFICULTY. 305 



ing here when the tide was ebbing, and heading off 

 the fish that had ascended the stream, to seize them on 

 their return to the sea. Scipio and Caesar consulted long 

 over the marks, with an air of much importance, and 

 then informed us that such was " de fac'." Moreover, 

 Scipio assured me that he had seen, on moonlight nights, 

 raccoons engaged in these industrious pursuits, and 

 standing knee-deep in the retiring tide, using their broad 

 fore paws for hands, scoop out the fish, and throw them 

 far up on the beach, while a fellow-fisher of the same 

 family, wading down the creek from above, with splash 

 and squeal, would drive the frightened denizens of 

 the brook into the very paws of their cunning foe. 

 Caesar indorsed the same story, which I would readily 

 believe from the nature of the animal, but which I can- 

 not think that Scip and Caesar ever had the forbearance 

 to watch, while they had the means of pouncing on the 

 raccoons. 



Not far from the creek lay a hollow log that Scipio 

 judged might be the resort of his friends, the raccoons, 

 and, trimming a willow stick for a probe, after one or 

 two careful examinations into the different knot-holes, he 

 began a vigorous series of punches, while Caesar stood at 

 the end with a club elevated to knock over the prize. 

 Instead of a raccoon, to our great amusement, out slid a 

 huge rattlesnake, disturbed in his morning nap, and 

 shaking his tail with a whirring sound, like the wing of 

 a quail when rising. Over went Caesar in his haste to get 

 away from his dangerous prize, exclaiming, as he ran : 



