48 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



opossums are concealed. While this is going on, 

 the poor brutes seem to joke, sing, laugh and 

 chatter in the most indescribable manner. Pre- 

 sently, the tree gives way, and at this moment, which 

 the opossums are quite unable to understand, tliej'- 

 jump out to the end of the branches. In a minute, 

 crash ! comes the tree and the opossums with it, 

 sometimes falling under the very grip of the dog. 

 Even should he escape for the moment, the dog is 

 soon upon him, and, if he shams dead, the negro 

 who picks him up does not forget to add a little 

 reality to the fiction," 



I laughed at ni}^ host's stories about opossum 

 hunting, but he told me that I was wrong to dismiss 

 lightly so interesting a subject, and he offered to 

 convince me by actual experience that it was not 

 so ridiculous as it seemed to be in the telling. I 

 accepted his proposition at once, and he gave orders 

 for everything to be in readiness for the sport by the 

 close of the day. 



It was pitch dark when we started, and I ver}' 

 naturally observed that this would render it all the 

 more difficult for us to see the game. He replied 

 that, on the contrar}^ that would make it all the 

 more easy. I had no reply to make, so I contented 

 myself with an inward protest, and with allowing 

 myself to be led onwards. 



We travelled in an American waggon, drawn by a 

 powerful horse, and the benches accommodated the 



