230 
LETTERS FROM ALABAMA. 
cept the vermin in their retreat, as, on being | 
alarmed from their repast, they at once make for 
their fastnesses in the lofty trees. A negro with I 
his pine-knot, stood at each station, illuminating j 
the hoary trunks of the great trees. !' 
Meanwhile the other servants were scouring the I 
field with the dogs, shouting and making as much ! 
noise as possible. Again the twinkling lights j 
looked beautiful, and the sound of the negroes’ ! 
sonorous voices, raised in prolonged shouts with I 
musical cadences, and now and then a snatch of a 
rattling song, the favourite burden being how 
a “ big racoon” was seen — 
a sittin’ on a rail/’ 
fell very pleasantly on the ear. Occasionally the 
barking of the curs gave token that game was 
started ; and, presently, the approach of the sound 
towards us was followed by what looked to be a 
white cat scampering towards the very chestnut- 
tree before us, closely pursued by one of the mon- 
grel curs. My friend’s fatal rifle turned the 
creature over as soon as seen ; but the very next 
instant another appeared, and scrambling up the 
fissured trunk, made good its retreat among the 
branches. 
In the course of an hour another was shot, one 
was caught and worried by the dogs, and some 
half-a-dozen others were just glimpsed as they 
scuttled past us, the light for an instant revealing 
their grey bodies, but too briefly to allow an aim. 
We heard, by the reports of our distant friends’ 
rifles, that they had their share of success ; and 
when we assembled at the edge of the field, half- 
