304- WILD SPOETS m THE SOUTH. 



conceal our boat, landed and commenced to hunt down 

 the island. 



It Avas early morning, and the dew was still on the 

 grass, and the mocking-bii'd had not yet finished his 

 matinal song. 



" There's a dog's track," I said to Mike, directing his 

 attention to some footprints fairly marked on the sand ; 

 " there may be some Indians camping here." 



" 'No " said Mike, following the tracks with his eye for 

 a moment ; " a wolf." 



" How do you tell ?" 



(^ A wolf's got two long fore toes on each foot, Jd'ye 

 see ?" pomting to the mark on a piece of clay soil, where 

 the animal had leaped over a pool of water, leaving a 

 deep scratch on each side that showed plainly the forma- 

 tion of his foot ; he's gone sometime in the night ; they 

 are great travellers, they be, and like enough he's now 

 on Topolika River." 



A little creek ran into the island, containing about an 

 inch of water at low tide, but into which, with the 

 flood tide, fish Avere accustomed to feed, and the shores 

 of this inlet, at its narrowest part, were strewed with the 

 heads and tails of small fish, such as the young of bass 

 and redfish, while the whole shore was tracked with the 

 prints of some animal. We stopped before the signs, 

 and Scipio, his natural instincts fully alive, exclaimed : 



" Gi ! dere be shocks ob coons here o' nights fishin'." 



A closer examination satisfied me that such was the 

 case, and that some raccoons were in the habit of repair- 



