NATURE ASSERTS HERSELF. 95 



feathered populace paid no attention to this enemy, whom 

 they had long regarded as an inoffensive creature nay, 

 almost as a comrade when suddenly he sprang on the 

 back of an old cock, who, surprised by the unexpected 

 assault, fluttered round the yard in erratic course, with 

 his assailant clinging to his back, and dragging him and 

 his cord and his log from one side to the other. The 

 whole poultry-yard was in commotion ; and there was 

 fluttering to and fro, and much clucking and clacking 

 and crowing. Finally, the cunning racoon, still astride 

 of his unwilling charger, caught hold of his head with 

 greedy teeth, and squeezed it with religious compunction, 

 his eyes closed like those of a devotee ; then he pitilessly 

 crushed and crunched it, without being at all disconcerted 

 by the agonizing convulsions of his victim. 



" Chassez le naturel, il revient an galop," * 



says one of the great French poets ; and certainly the 

 racoon of Beaufort Farm demonstrated the truth of a 

 saying which has become proverbial. 



Yet such a natural perversity could not, and ought 

 not to, remain unpunished. A council was held, and a 

 decision arrived at, that Master Tommy must suffer for 

 his crime, as no extenuating circumstances could be al- 

 leged in arrest of judgment. Seized by a negro of the 

 plantation, he was hung to a hickory-tree in the poultry- 

 yard, by the very cord which had been used to restrain 

 his evil tendencies. The cock was stewed and eaten for 

 supper, with a seasoning of red pepper, and a garniture of 

 boiled rice. From this last incident my readers may 

 draw any inference they think proper. 



* Try to expel Nature, and it returns at a gallop, 



