THE STILL HUNT. 87 



i 

 Without precisely understanding the reasoning by which Mike 



arrived at this last affirmation concerning a wood that apparently 



might contain a thousand such animals without any one being 



aware of it, I could not help smiling at the particularity of his 



genealogy. 



" Thar 's somewhar here about another varmint, and a purtier 

 one yet, though tain't of much account as a fighter. I 've seen his 

 tracks and have promised his skin to Lou Jackson, and ef he ain't 

 a ghost I '11 git him some day, though I 've been a month tryin' to 

 find him." 



" What is the animal ?" 



"Tiger cat; a rael likely little critter; yaller with black dabs. 

 I reckon he 's 'bout the size of a small hound." 



" You were in a hurry to make your promises. How do you 

 know you can get it ? " 



" Because Lou Jackson wants it," replied Mike, with the assur- 

 ance of a man that had never failed in any thing he desired with 

 his whole mind. 



" How long have you known Lou Jackson ? " 



" Goin' on to three years." 



" Where did they come from ? " 



" Oh, Jackson had a big plantation on the upper coast some- 

 where nor'east ; but I 've heern say he lost his crops and got in 

 debt, and fit a duel, and then cum heyar, and built this house, and 

 called it  Far AwaV " 



" I thought you had known his family longer, you seem such a 

 friend of Miss Lou." 



" I have known them only three years ; and some folks you 

 know soon, and Lou Jackson is one of them kind." 



" She is a pleasant girl." 



" Yes, I can say that. Thar 's nobody in Floridy that can say 

 so much, and be so sparin' of words. She 's always the same ; she 

 makes it light all about the Ouithlacouchee when it 's black dark 

 everywhere else, she 's so happy like. Even the In j ins, when they 

 come there, draw in their claws and act genteel, and that 's oncom- 

 min for an Injin." 



" They are very much exposed, living here so far from protec- 



