236 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



the house, and where the pigs were a-squealin' bloody murder all 

 the time. That 's what bothered me. I knew if the painter had 

 got a pig he must have killed it right off, and then he would up 

 and away with the carcass. That's the natur' of the varmint. 

 Could it be an old she-painter a-havin' one of her cubs out exer- 

 cisin' him, and the cub couldn't lug off his share of the game ! 



" We got up to the pen. It was a log-cabin about twelve feet 

 square, built of heavy logs, jist to stop such doin's as this. The 

 dogs had their noses to the cracks baying away like all-fired, and 

 the pigs were a-snortin' and squealing inside; but the strangest 

 thing was, that the door was tight fast, the chain across it, and the 

 big oak pin drove in as tight as ever. 



" ' Whar 's the painter ? ' says the Doctor, as he came sidelin' up, 

 lookin' behind every stump. 



" ' That 's jist what I want to know,' says I, as 1 cum around 

 the buildin' to look fur his hole, but without findin' it. The pigs 

 were a-squealin' away as if they would split their throats, and the 

 dogs were a-dancin' and a-howlin'. The old woman was a-sayin' 

 somethin', but you couldn't hear what it was, for the wind blew as 

 bad as ever ; it only wanted that cussed painter's screech to make it 

 all complete ; and jist then, as I am a livin' sinner, the varmint 

 gave his screech, and it was inside the pen ! 



" I say, Squire, it would ha' done yer good to have heard that 

 screech, and ha' seen that scrimmage. I 've hearn the varmints 

 screech many a time when they and I have been in the woods 

 all alone, but then it was kind a soft-like, as if he was a-doin' it 

 for his amusement when he was lonely; he puts it then in the 

 best metre, of course, and it isn't disagreeable, unless he might 

 be too close to you. But here he didn't smooth it down, his 

 dander was evidently riz, and he yelled out as if he was filin' 

 a ninety-horse-power saw with the Rocky Mountains, and wound 

 up with a spit that jist took the hair off a steam whistle. The 

 young pups drew back a little and howled, and the old dogs went 

 nearly mad because they couldn't get through the cracks between 

 the logs. 



 The Doctor was fur settin' fire to the cabin and burning him 

 up. The old woman was fur cuttin' a hole in the door and shootin' 



