A PLUCKY LITTLE COON 99 



He is a sleepy-head, and snoozes all day. He 

 never comes out of his retreat, mostly in a hollow 

 tree, till dark, and goes in again before daylight, 

 so it is not easy to find out where he lives. He 

 has a curious habit of washing, or rather of 

 sousing, everything he catches in water. No 

 matter what he finds to eat mice, chickens, 

 roots, grubs, fruit, everything, in fact, but fish 

 he will take it to water, if it be anywhere near a 

 pond or brook, and souse it thoroughly before 

 eating. Once our author saw mooweesuk sitting 

 on a rock by a trout brook diligently sousing 

 something that he had just caught. He crept 

 near on all fours to the edge of an old bridge, 

 when the logs creaked, and mooweesuk looked 

 up from his washing. He left his catch on the 

 instant, and came up the brook, part wading, 

 part swimming, put his forepaws on the low 

 bridge, poked his head up over the edge, and 

 looked at him steadily. He disappeared after a 

 few moments, and on turning round, there he 

 was, his paws up on the other edge of the bridge, 

 looking back at the queer man-thing that he had 

 never seen before. The game that he was wash- 

 ing was a big frog. After a few moments he 

 circled the bridge, grabbed his catch, and dis- 

 appeared into the woods. He always comes in 

 the face of danger or death to the cry of distress 

 from one of his own kind. 



Once, near midnight, in the month of Novem- 



