190 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 



Sure enough, when the shot cut through the 

 branches well above the animal, he started slowly 

 down the trunk, head-foremost, like a squirrel, and 

 never stopped until he reached a branch some twenty 

 feet above the yelping pack. Then, with hardly a 

 pause, he launched himself right into their midst. 

 As he came through the air, we could see him slash- 

 ing with his claws, evidently limbering up. He struck 

 the ground, only to disappear in a wave of dogs. 

 In a minute he fought himself clear, and managed to 

 get his back against the tree. Then followed a great 

 exhibition of scientific fighting. The coon was 

 perfectly balanced on all four feet, and did wonder- 

 ful execution with his flexible fore-paws, armed with 

 sharp, curved claws. He went through that mongrel 

 pack like a light-weight champion in a street fight. 

 Ducking, side-stepping, slashing and biting fiercely 

 in the clinches, he broke entirely through the circle, 

 and started off at a brisk trot toward the thick woods. 

 The pack followed after him, baying ferociously, 

 but doing nothing more. Not one of them would 

 venture again into close quarters. Though we came 

 back empty-handed, not even Uncle Zeke grudged 

 that coon his life. 



The motto of the next sleeper is, "Don't hurry, 

 others will. " If you meet in your wanderings a black- 

 and-white animal wearing a pointed nose, a bushy 

 tail, and an air of justified confidence, avoid any al- 

 tercation with him. The skunk discovered the secret 

 of the gas-attack a million years before the Boche. 



