THE OPOSSUM. 49 



whole party, the opossum hunter, two friends and 

 myself. We soon arrived in the midst of a thick 

 wood, through which, preceded by a tall negro, 

 who held a lighted torch in his hand, we made our 

 way in silence. The two dogs who accompanied us, 

 soon finding the scent of the opossum, gave tongue 

 and rushed onwards, leading the way to the foot of 

 an oak wliicli looked a likely lair for the game we 

 were after. — I must confess, however, that I was 

 very curious to know how the opossum hunter pre- 

 pared to get at his pre}'. We had no axes to cut 

 down the tree, and the darkness was so intense that 

 the light of the torch, instead of illuminating the 

 space over our heads, only served to render the 

 ohscurity more conspicuous. The negro who pre- 

 ceded us, having stuck his torch into the ground, 

 heaped up an enormous quantity of brushwood and 

 dead twigs within about twenty feet of the tree, and 

 having set a light to it, placed himself so as to put 

 the trunk of the tree between his body and the 

 heat of the fire. I sat down by his side, awaiting 

 the result of these mysterious preparations. The 

 pile soon began to hlaze, and, in a short time, when 

 our eyes had grown accustomed to the glare, we 

 could distinguish the branches of the oak as readily 

 as if they stood in relief upon an illuminated 

 horizon. — " Ha ! " cried our opossum hunter, " Now 

 we have him ! Look up there, at that branch. Surely 

 it moves; what can it be ?^' At the word, he fired. 



