A WILD-CAT HUNT IN CAROLINA. 161 



to have been struck by four out of the six shots 

 fired at him and the doctor's shot, of peculiar 

 size, being lodged in his body, left no doubt of 

 the fact, that the black cat of the doctor and 

 judge was no other than the tawny cat of the 

 rest of the field. "Whether the change of color 

 was in the skin of the cat, or the eye of the sports- 

 man, or the distribution of light, we leave phi- 

 losophers to determine and proceed with our 

 hunt. 



Having admired, a while, the sharp claws and 

 formidable fangs of our victim, his flat head, and 

 ample development of the organ of destructive- 

 ness ; and listened, with becoming interest, to the 

 rapid sketch which each sportsman successively 

 gave of his own share in the death, we slung our 

 cat upon the fork of an oak, to wait our return, 

 and pushed on to beat another thicket. But here, 

 either there was no cat ; or, if there was, he had 

 ensconced himself behind an retrenchment of briers, 

 which hounds, unless their blood was heated by 

 pursuit, would not willingly enter so that he re- 

 mained undetected. 



And now the hunt, like our story, was in danger 

 of flagging for want of incident : for there was 

 little to rouse us, except when, at long intervals, 

 a shot was fired at a partridge, that^went whirring 



