138 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



" ' a-sittin' on a rail,' 

 " fell very pleasantly on the ear. Occasionally the bark- 

 " ing of the curs gave token that game was started ; and,, 

 "presently, the approach of the sound towards us was 

 '* followed by what looked to be a white cat scampering 

 "towards the very chestnut-tree before us, closely pur- 

 "sued by one of the mongrel curs. My friend's fatal 

 ** rifle turned the creature over as soon as seen ; but the 

 " very next instant another appeared, and scrambling up 

 "the fissured trunk, made good its retreat among the 

 " branches. 



" In the course of an hour another was shot, one was 

 " caught and worried by the dogs, and some half a dozen 

 " others were just glimpsed as they scuttled past us, the 

 " light for an instant revealing their grey bodies, but too 

 ^* briefly to allow an aim. We heard, by the reports of 

 " our distant friends' rifles, that they had their share of 

 " success ; and when we assembled at the edge of the 

 '* field, half a dozen opossums and a racoon w^ere thrown 

 " across the crupper of one of the beasts. The appear- 

 " ance of the latter had been curiously in accordance 

 " with the negroes' song ; for one of the young men, 

 " creeping quietly along the fence, had seen the furry 

 " gentleman ' sittin' on a rail,' and looking with out- 

 " stretched neck and absorbed attention into the field, 

 " wondering, doubtless, what all the uproar was about. 

 " His senses were not so locked, however, as not to be 

 " aroused by the gentle footfall of our young friend ; 

 " before he could raise his rifle, the racoon had leaped 

 " from the fence, and scoured up an immense sycamore. 

 " It seemed a hopeless case ; but young Zachariah, 

 " vexed at being done by a 'coon, continued to peer up 

 " into the tree, hoping that he might get another glance 

 " of the animal. Familiar with the habits of the wild 



