1 66 Next to the Ground 



sums. Coons compared to possums are lean 

 at their fattest, but of a high game flavor, 

 savory enough after a surfeit of sweet fat. 

 Old Man Shack said "a yearlin' coon that 

 had n't hustled hisself too much, killed when 

 the sign was right, skinned with the head on, 

 and fixed up nice with pepper and salt, an' 

 flour-doin's inside, was better 'n any wild turkey 

 that ever gobbled or strutted " — but the old 

 man, it was well known, would eat pretty 

 much anything that could be got inside an oven 

 or roasted in the ashes. For the most part, 

 negroes only ate the coons. Joe tasted the 

 meat once, when Dan had a particularly fine 

 roast. It was welLflavored, but somehow he 

 did not relish it. He did relish though, to the 

 utmost, a coon-hunt after midnight. 



The world lay all enchanted then, with the 

 dew crisping into frost under the silver moon- 

 shine. There were white blurs and blotches 

 upon the tree-trunks, and a glorious mottle of 

 light and shadow all over the rustling leaves. 

 The dogs ran freer, and bayed louder, the 

 whoops were keener and more thrilling. 

 Wrong took the lead then as of right. No 

 coon ever littered could trick his keen nose — 

 not even by springing from one tree to another 

 for maybe three hundred yards before he came 

 to earth and set off at a dead run for his water- 

 side castle. 



