THE EACCOON. 59 



-R'itlnn his reach. The dogs kept their distance, and 

 contented themselves with making feints npon the 

 raccoon, evidently with the intention of fatiguing him. 

 Sure enough, in a short time, the creature began to 

 manifest unequivocal symptoms of fatigue. Although 

 he growled and screamed more loudly than ever, the 

 dogs, quite undaunted by his noise, began to press 

 him very close. One, bolder than another, caught 

 hold of his tail, but a savage bite compelled him 

 to let go his hold. Another seized him by the 

 haunches, with little more success, for the raccoon 

 seized him by the jaw, and held him there until the 

 poor dog howled with pain, without being able to 

 make the slightest effort to disengage himself. The 

 raccoon seemed to think that he had won the victory, 

 and enjoyed his vengeance with quite an appearance 

 of delight, when the other dogs, seeing that they 

 had nothing more to fear from his jaws, threw 

 themselves upon him, and overcame him in a few 

 minutes. The raccoon had not let go all this time, 

 and he held his prisoner with his teeth, until the 

 son of Mr. Danielson split his head open with the 

 blow of an axe.* 



So far, the hunt had been successful. We had 

 already got two raccoons, whose skins were worth a 



* This part of the narrative of a 'coon hunt bears such a close resem- 

 blance to a similar story by Audubon, that I have little doubt that 

 M. Kevoil has used the American naturalist's experience very much on 

 the principle of !Moliere -svhen he said : " Od je trouve mon hien je le 

 _23rc)uL-."— Trans. 



