~ 



in the doorway behind the screen of hanging 

 ferns. Still we knew something was in there, 

 Brother for l s h ow ed my little woodsman, to his 

 S reat wonder and delight, a short gray hair 

 tipped with black clinging to the rocks. 

 Then we went away more cautiously than 

 we came. 



" Maybe it 's a coon," I told the shy child, 

 "for they are sleepyheads and snooze all 

 day. Foxy, too; they don't come out till 

 dark and go in again before daylight, so that 

 boys can't find out where they live." 



When the time of full moon came I went 

 back to the little house among the ledges, 

 one afternoon, and hid under the same bush 

 to watch until something should come out. 

 But first I looked all about and found 

 near by a huge hollow chestnut tree that the 

 wood-choppers had passed by for years as 

 not worth the cutting. There were scratches 

 and claw pits everywhere in the rough bark, 

 and just under the lower limbs Avas a big 

 dark knot hole that might be a doorway 

 to a den. So I lay down in hiding where 



I could see 



