206 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



operi; to see what the raccoon would do. Would 

 he jump into the water and catch hold of the 

 turtle ? or would he wait until one of them came on 

 shore ? 



The raccoon did neither. About two yards from 

 the place where he had concealed himself was the 

 trunk of a tree which was held on to the bank by its 

 roots, and to the surface of the water by its branches, 

 some of Avhicli, no doubt, rested upon the bottom. 

 The raccoon advanced with slow and stealthy steps 

 towards this trunk, under the shadow of which were 

 several turtles popping up their heads above water. 

 He never lost sight of them, and worming his head 

 through the roots, he placed it between his fore- 

 paws, turned his tail towards the water, and pushed 

 it on, little by little, until it almost touched the sur- 

 face of the lake, when he began to wag it about. 

 The body of the cunning creature was all the time 

 so rolled up into a ball that one would have been 

 puzzled to decide what order of the animal kingdom 

 he belonged to. 



In a very short time, one of the turtles began to 

 take notice of this caudal appendage, which was be- 

 having itself in so strange a manner ; paddled slowly 

 towards it, opened its jaws, and seized the end of the 

 tail 3 but scarcely had it seized this new kind of bait, 

 when the raccoon sprang suddenly forward, dragging 

 the turtle after it clean out of the water, and throw- 

 ing it upon the shore, where, by means of its muzzle. 



