BllAYERY OF THE EACOON. 221 



on its conclusion four young ones were found and 



killed. 



Shortly after another was found. Again as sharp a 

 fight ensued, and when it was ended, a nest of five 

 more was discovered, but as I was close by when the 

 dogs found them, I whipped them back and saved the 

 young 'coons. I carried them home, fed them on milk 

 for a few days, and hoped to raise them, but they died 

 about a week after they came into my possession. 



On the road between Brazoria and Columbia, on the 

 Brazos river, I found a racoon playing in the topmost 

 branches of a tall elm when I was returning home one 

 morning from a successful cattle-hunt. I halted my 

 horse, and raising my gun sent a bullet at its shoulders. 

 The ball struck rather lower than I intended, and only 

 broke the fore-arm, but as it was an ounce bullet, and 

 from a smooth-bore, the shock knocked the racoon out 

 of the tree, and it fell into the jaws of the stout cattle- 

 dogs. They expected to make short work of the little 

 beast, but they reckoned wrongly, for more than once 

 did the 'coon fight clear of its enemies, but in the end 

 they proved too much for it, and it was killed. 



Whenever I had been hunting, and had not over- 

 loaded my horse with game, if I killed a racoon, I 

 generally managed to carry it home as a present to 

 my negro groom, who valued it nearly as highly as if it 

 was a 'possum. 



When I first went to Texas, I have often made one at 



