82 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



after another the young dogs come panting back to us, and 

 fall lazily into our wake. " Hang coon hunts in general ! — 

 this is no joke ; all cry and no wool !" 



Hark ! a deep-mouthed, distant bay ! The sound is electri- 

 cal ; our impatience and fatigue are gone ! All ears and 

 eyes, we crowd around old Sambo. The oracle attitudinizes. 

 He leans forward with one ear turned towards the earth in 

 the direction of the sound. Breathlessly we gaze upon him. 

 'Hark! another bay; another; then several join in. The old 

 man has been unconsciously soliloquizing from the first sound. 



" Golly, dat's nigger Trim !" in an under tone; "he know 

 de coon!" Next sound. "Dat's a pup; shaw !" Pause. 

 " Dat's a pup, agin ! Oh, niggers, no coon dar !" 



Lifting his outspread hand, which he brings down with a 

 loud slap upon his thigh ; " Yah ! yah ! dat's ole Music ; look 

 out, niggers !" Then, as a hoarse, low bay comes booming 

 to us through a pause, he bounds into the air with the caperish 

 agility of a colt, and breaks out in ecstasy, " Whoop ! whoop ! 

 dat's de ole dog ; go my Bose !" Then striking hurriedly 

 through the brush in the direction of the sounds, we only hear 

 from him again, 



"Yah! yah! yah! dat's a coon, niggers! Bose dar!" 

 And away we rush as fast as we can scramble through the 

 underbrush of the thick wood. The loud burst of the whole 

 pack opening together, drowns even the noise of our progress. 



The cry of a full pack is maddening music to the hunter. 

 Fatigue is forgotten, and obstacles are nothing. On we go ; 

 yelling in chorus with the dogs. Our direction is towards the 

 swamp, and they are fast hurrying to its fastnesses. But 

 what do we care ! Briars and logs ; the brush of dead trees ; 

 plunges half leg deep into the watery mire of boggy places 

 are alike disregarded. The game is up ! Hurrah ! hurrah ! 

 we must be in at the death ! So we scurry, led by the mad- 

 dening chorus — 



" — while the babbling echo mocks the hounds." 



