SQUIRREL SHOOTING. 65 



Down the glen-shaded lane the wagon rattled, and we 

 brought up the rear at a gallop, which soon exhilarated 

 us, and as we turned into the road we flew by the wagon, 

 and led up the long hill through the forest. The road 

 was in a capital condition. The shower had not left a 

 drop of standing water. Even the horses seemed to ap- 

 preciate the freshness of the air and the purity of the 

 morning. As we crossed the hill-top, John caught sight 

 of a gray squirrel in the road, and with a shout dashed 

 off after him. The quick fellow was as fast as six horses, 

 and was up an oak-tree before the gray had made his 

 third leap. The wagon was close behind, and John sprang 

 to the ground, and, throwing his rein to Philip, seized the 

 gun, and called me to help him " surround the squirrel." 



There is no "season" for squirrel shooting. Enemies 

 to the farmer, they are to be regarded as fair game in 

 spring, summer, or autumn. " Surrounding" a gray squir- 

 rel is one of the most exciting of forest sports. The game 

 is small, but the fun is always large. I have had as much 

 exhilaration, excitement, and fatigue in a gray -squirrel 

 hunt as in any bear or wolf hunt it was ever my fortune 

 to join. I rode around the tree half a dozen times, while 

 John stood watching to catch a whisk of the squirrel's 

 tail or the slightest motion of his body. But he was en- 

 sconced in some crotch or cavity of the limbs, and would 

 not stir. At length I dismounted, and, taking a large 

 stone, commenced hammering on the trunk. It would 

 seem as if these fellows were used to having their trees 

 cut down, and themselves caught in that way, for gener- 

 ally, when they hear a sound and feel a trembling that re- 

 sembles the blows of an axe, they hasten to evacuate; 

 and so this one, when I began to pound, started for the 

 next tree, and was stopped in the air by the load of shot 



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