Way-Atcha, the Coon—-Raccoon 
but keep quiet, the one that afterward was named 
Way-atcha. In their cuddling nursery days the 
rules of Coon life are simple. Eat, grow, keep 
quiet—all the rest is mother’s business. But once 
they are old enough to leave the nest they begin to 
have experiences and learn the other rules. 
The sunning perch was free for all, and the 
youngsters were allowed to climb higher in the 
tree among the small branches, but below the nest 
was a great expanse of trunk without any bark 
on, and quite smooth, a very difficult and dan- 
gerous place to climb, and whenever one of the 
youngsters made a move downward, mother ordered 
him back in sharp, angry tones. 
Way-atcha (his mother called him ‘Wirrr’” the 
same as the others, but with a little more vigor to 
it) had been warned back twice or thrice, but that 
made him more eager to try the forbidden climb. 
His mother was inside as he slid below the sunning 
limb on the rough bark and on to the smooth trunk. 
It was twenty times too big for his arms to grip, 
and down he went, clutching at anything within 
reach—crash, scramble, down, down, down, and 
splash into the deep water below. 
Startled by the sudden gasp of the others, the 
mother hurried forth to see her eldest splashing 
‘in the brook. She hurried to the rescue, but the 
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