96 KNOWN BY HIS TAIL. 



I conclude with another anecdote. 



In a cedar wood, on the bank of the Crow- Nest River, 

 not far from the famous military school of West Point 

 (New York County), I was hunting, one morning, with my 



friend M. d'O , a distinguished professor, w r ell known 



for his eminent abilities. Our pack of five bloodhounds 

 had started a racoon, who, however, by his speed and 

 cunning, contrived to elude their pursuit. He disap- 

 peared as if by enchantment winding round a wooden 

 bridge thrown across the foaming current. The pack, at 

 fault, ran hither and thither, growling and snarling, and 

 quite at a loss which way to run. We stimulated them 

 with voice and gesture. At length we were about to 

 quit the spot, when a Yankee peasant, advancing to- 

 wards us, proposed to deliver the fugitive into our hands 

 if we would give him a couple of dollars for his trouble. 



We looked at one another, and, without uttering a 

 word, I drew the coins from my purse, and handed them 

 to the American. 



" There," said he, " look up in that tree, and you may 

 see his tail hanging out of yonder crow's nest ! " 



It was tme. The racoon had leapt on the parapet of the 

 bridge ; from thence had darted to the trunk of the tree ; 

 then, with the help of his claws, had ascended to an empty 

 crow's nest, and concealed himself inside it forgetting, 

 poor simpleton ! that his long striped tail would betray the 

 asylum where he had sought refuge. Undoubtedly this 

 retreat must have been familiar to him ; and everything 

 led us to believe that he had at one time been the fell 

 murderer of the progeny of the crow. I must add that the 

 cunning animal met with no mercy at our hands, but was 

 offered up as a sacrifice to the manes of the young victims I 



