44 Tue Aroostook Woops. 

corner of the camp where we knew by the sounds the murder 
was being committed. Moving carefully we were not heard. 
About twenty yards away, at the corner of the old hovel, among 
a patch of elder bushes, a pretty young sable was sucking the 
blood from the throat of a rabbit. We stood very still, hid- 
den, watching the scene. Having drank of his blood until 
his sides puffed out, he seized him by the neck and was 
pulling him away to where he would be hidden, when he 
would come again at night and make a full supper of him. 
But the elder stems grew too thick for him to do this, just in 
that direction, for as he backed and jerked the rabbit to him, 
it brought up against the shoulders between the stout elders 
that grew just right to trouble him. It was amusing to see 
his angry motions; he would seize him by the throat, spring 
backward and tumble over, then up and try it again, but 
Bunny would not come. During this time, we held the gun 
in readiness, meaning to be his judge, jury, and executioner, 
but he was so smart and pretty, with a bright orange spot 
under his throat, that gradually, we weakened, and finally 
concluded he should live (‘‘ to get prime.” ) 
About this time as he was giving angry jerks to right and 
left, it was so comical to see him brace and try, that we had 
to laugh, when quick as lightning, his eye was on us, and in 
an instant, he bounded away. We secured the rabbit, which 
was a nice fat one. <A bite upon the shoulder showed where 
he had first caught on to him, and the mark under his throat 
from which he had sucked his: blood, were the only wounds. 
The rabbit was nice for food, and had been well bled in the 
proper place, so thanking him for providing a dinner for us, 
we hung it in the cool corner of the camp porch with a bunch 
of partridges. 
