272 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
arrived at the base of the cliff. Looking over, 
his master could see, in the bright moonlight, just 
how Rastus had gone up a tall tree which had 
thrown a limb against the rocks, and by using this 
limb easily reached a sloping gully that made a 
road to the top. Wolf, however, was completely 
baffled. 'There was only the one trail to the tree. 
He ascertained that. Then he came back and 
studied the trunk in silence a moment. Finally 
he sat down and barked. He'd treed his ’coon, 
he told the world. And Rastus was a mile away, 
eating bacon rind! 
Wolf’s master whistled the dog off, and went 
down the mountain reflecting on the marvelous 
instincts of the wilderness folk, which teach them 
such lessons in the strategy of retreat. When he 
got home, he looked up his guns and lantern. 
“Wolf and I are going to get that Rastus this 
autumn,” he told his wife. 
“That who?” said she, surprised out of her 
grammar. 
He laughed. “Such a big clever ’coon has to 
be named Rastus,” he answered, and told her the 
story. 
