Way-Atcha, the Coon-Raccoon 
Faraway down the river came a deep booming 
sound, the roaring of some terrible animal, no 
doubt. Mother listened to it from the door. Pres- 
ently father came scrambling up the trunk a little 
wet, because he had swum the river, after laying 
a trail to take the enemy away, and had come 
home by a new road along the top of a fence, so 
that no trail was left and the baying of that awful 
hound was lost faraway in the woods. 
That night Way-atcha had met and felt some 
of the big things that shape a Coon’s life: the 
moonlight hunt, the vigilant mother, the fighting 
father, the terrible hound, the safe return home 
protected by a break in the trail. But he did 
not think about it. He remembered only the joy 
of clutching that fat, wriggling, juicy frog, and next 
night he was eager to be away on another hunt. 
THE MYSTERIOUS WARNING 
Many animals have a sixth sense, a something 
that warns them that there is danger about, a 
something that men once had, and called “a far 
sense of happenings” or a “‘sense of luck.” This 
seems to be strongest in mothers when they have 
their young. And when the next night came Way- 
atcha’s mother felt uneasy. There was something 
wrong. She delayed going down the round stair- 
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