290 ir/LD NEIGHBORS chap. 



clansfolk. So one fancies, when the quavering cry 

 is repeated and when it ceases, that all the free- 

 booters have gained the cornfield and are silent 

 with busy looting." 



Now is the time when 'coon-hunting is most fun 

 and best rewarded, for now the animal is so fat 

 that a large one may weigh twenty-five pounds, and 

 his flesh is tender, juicy, and well-flavored, whereas, 

 at other times of the year, it is rather poor proven- 

 der, even for a stew, and sometimes as rank as that 

 of a muskrat ; nevertheless, our colored friends in 

 the South are willing to eat it at any time. 



'Coon-hunting is one of the truly American sports 

 of the chase, though its devotees have found diffi- 

 culty in persuading folks to take their sport seri- 

 ously. It is, in truth, a comical aspect of hunting, 

 and is scarcely less wanting in dignity than a 

 'possum chase, which confessedly has none at all. 

 If 'coon-hunting be regarded as a step higher than 

 that, it loses the advantage at the end, for a fat 

 'possum is certainly better eating than a 'coon, 

 however rotund. The chase, nevertheless, calls 

 for endurance, since an old 'coon may run four 

 or five miles after he has been started, zigzagging 

 hither and yon, circling round and round trees, 

 leaving a track calculated to make a dog dizzy, 

 swimming streams, and running along the tops of 

 logs and snake-fences, hiding his trail with the 

 craftiness of a fox. 



The hunt is always organized late at night. 



