18 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



" Caese ain't fool nudder," interposed Scipio, raising his curly 

 head from behind his comrade. " Ef he don't pickle young 'gators, 

 he sees 'em and knows sum'en or nudder." 



This retort was hailed with a volley of applause, and even Mike 

 smiled at the Doctor's discomfiture. 



Scip, evidently elated with his success, continued : " I knows 

 'gator from time I picaninny. I knows 'gator tail 's good to eat. 

 Course he suck 'em. 'Gator 's science varmint, und when he roars 

 in de spring-time he knows what he roarin' 'bout ; ain't no fool, 

 nudder, and makes speech wiser 'n the judge in 'lection times." 



" What does he say, Scip ? " 



" Mauss ask ole Aunty Foko what he say. She 's got witch 

 roots, and she knows how to talk 'gator. She stay out all night 

 in Oke'fnokee swamp, 'gator neber so much as looks to her. She 

 tell me what 'gator say to his picaninnies." 



"Don't maussa, ketch me tellin' 'bout 'gator and dem little 

 'gators layin' da wid ears wide open. 'Morrow mornin' they '11 be 

 in the ribber, und ole 'gators know all 'bout me." 



" Well, we will stop that, by carrying them away." So the 

 little eavesdroppers were taken by the tails and dropped into the 

 nearest watercourse, and the superstitious negro looked all about 

 him with suspicious glance, rolled over to a more comfortable 

 attitude, and commenced his story : 



" Yer see Aunty Foko's Guinea nigger, cum ober from Cuba, 

 but after her boy ben sold away she don' work no more, and tuck 

 to de swamp. She be older 'n Caesar an' me, boff togedder, and 

 her hair a'mos' white. She know de pizen roots, and she know 

 all de woods, an' day an' night be all de same to her ; an' she know 

 medicine to trow huntin' dogs off de track, an' nobody kin ketch 

 her. An' she tell dis child all de 'gator say, an' so I knows. 

 'Gator lay he eggs in de sand, and den when dey hatch out some 

 blazin' hot day little 'gators cut streeks fur de water right off; da 's 

 all seen of 'em till night. Night cum, an' ole 'gator dat keep watch 

 crawl on de sand-bank, an' he find little 'gators all hatch out. Den 

 he turn round and commence to croak little : nuffin pays no 'tention 

 to 'im. He croak little louder, nuffin come ; den he stand up on 

 he toes and he roar like all natur. It makes de water bile. 



