i 
RASTUS EARNS HIS SLEEP 271 
again on either side, he actually emitted a sharp 
yip, ytp of exasperation, and then, without pay- 
ing the slightest attention to his master, pro- 
ceeded painfully to find a way down through the 
scrub at one side of the precipice. A few mo- 
ments later his. master heard, very faintly, his 
whine as he picked up the scent again. Then 
the man waited for the bark that indicated a 
treed ’coon. 
But the bark never came. Instead, to the 
man’s amazement, a few minutes later he heard 
a faint sount to one side and a bit below him, and 
a thud of a pebble bouncing on the rocks. ‘Then 
the sharp nose of Rastus emerged over the rim, 
and the gray, sleek body of Rastus behind it, and 
drawing himself up on level ground, the ’coon 
glided noiselessly and without haste across the 
open space of moonlight and disappeared on his 
first trail into the woods; and, if you ask me, I 
think he picked up that bacon rind on his way 
back and took it to the brook, walking a long way 
in the water and emerging without further fear 
of pursuit. 
‘A moment after he had passed the man, Wolf 
