COMMON AMERICAN WILD CAT. 9 



the aristocracy of the plantation, are apt to look down upon their fellow- 

 servants as inferiors, and consider themselves privileged even to crack a 

 joke w^it'a their masters. The drivers are ordered to stop the dogs if a 

 deer should 1 e started, a circumstance which often occurs, and which 

 has saved the life of many a Cat, whose fate five minutes before this un- 

 lucky occurrence was believed to be sealed. Orders are given to destroy 

 the Cat fairly, by running him do^vn with the hounds, or if this cannot 

 be done, then by shooting him if he ascends a tree or approaches ^vithin 

 gun shot of the stand which the hunter has selected as the most likely 

 place for him to pass near. The day is most auspicious — there is not a 

 breath of wind to rustle the falling leaves, nor a cloud to throw its 

 shado ■ s over the wide joyous landscape. The dew-drops are sparkling 

 on the few remaining leaves of the persimmon tree, and the asters and 

 dog-fennel hang drooping beneath their load of moisture. The dogs 

 are gamboling in circles around, and ever and anon, in spite of all re- 

 straint, the joyous note breaks forth — the whole pack is impatient for the 

 chase, and the j'oung dogs are almost frantic with excitement. 



But we have not time for a farther description of the scene — whilst we are 

 musing and gazing, the word is given, " Go ! " and off start the hounds, 

 each pack following its own driver to different parts of the old fields, or 

 along the borders of the swamps and marshes. Much time, labour and 

 patience are usually required, before the " Cat " can be found by the dogs : 

 sometimes there is a sudden burst from one or the other of the packs, 

 awakening expectation in the minds of the huntsmen, but the driver is 

 not to be so easily deceived, as he has some dogs that never open at a 

 rabbit, and the snap of the whip soon silences the riotous young babblers. 

 Again there is a wild burst and an exulting shout, giving assurance that 

 better game than a rabbit is on foot ; and now is heard a distant shot, 

 succeeded in a second of time by another, and for an instant all is still : 

 the echoes come roaring up through the woods, and as they gradually 

 subside, the crack of the whip is again heard stopping the dogs. The 

 story is soob told ; a deer had been started — ^the shot was too small — or 

 the distance too great, or any other excuses, (which are always at hand 

 among hunters of fertile imagination,) are made by the unsuccessful 

 sportsman who fired, and the dogs are carried back to the " trail " of the 

 Cat, that has been g^o^\'ing fresher and fresher for the last half hour. 

 At length, " TrLmbush," (and a good dog is he,) that has been working 

 on the cold trail for some time, begins to give tongue, in a way that 

 brings the other dogs to his aid. The drivers now advance to each other, 

 encouraging their dogs ; the trail becomes a drag ; onward it goes 

 through a broad marsh at the head of a rice-field. " He will soon be 



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