WILD NEIGHBORS CHAP. 



Finally a chorus of eager barking in a different 

 tone from what has thus far been heard announces 

 to experienced ears that the dogs have some game 

 at bay. The hunters dispute as to what it is as 

 they crash and stagger on through the gloom, 

 each swearing he knows by his cur's voice what 

 sort of an animal he has in view. Arrived at the 

 scene of the clamor, the dogs are found in frantic 

 excitement around the foot of a tree, in whose 

 shadowy foliage something is supposed to be hid- 

 den. Will it be a 'coon, or will it turn out a 'pos- 

 sum, a wild-cat, or mayhap an owl ? 



First of all a fire is lighted, and its upreaching 

 blaze sends fitful rays of yellow light far among 

 the overhanging branches. Now there may be dis- 

 cerned a hollow near the summit of the trunk, and 

 as dead branches are heaped upon the fire sharp 

 eyes may detect a triangular head peering out of 

 what was once, perhaps, the front door of a wood- 

 pecker's home, and glints of green are reported to 

 be the glare of a raccoon's eyes. 



To shoot him there would now be easy enough, 

 but the eager hunters have no wish to dispose of 

 him so summarily. They have other uses to put 

 him to. The Iroquois felt the same way when 

 they had tracked and caught a Huron or a Jesuit. 

 The nimblest man in the party is sent up the tree, 

 and given a stick wherewith to frighten or poke or 

 pry the cornered animal out of his castle. Com- 

 pelled to leave the hole, it creeps out upon a limb, 



