THE OPOSSUM 
155 
“The Negroes’ favorite animal, one of the most 
interesting of all wild Americans. And the one with 
the strangest family, I think.” 
“Goodness!” Ginger said. “Tell us about him.” 
“No, not yet. I want you to see him first. But I 
will tell you his name. It is 'opossum , 1 sometimes 
called just plain ’possum.” 
“Why do we hunt him at night? Won’t we stum¬ 
ble over things?” 
“We might stumble; but this is a night-roaming 
animal, and the Negroes’ dogs can scent his trail bet¬ 
ter. I promise it will be fun.” 
And so it was! The children were excited over the 
barking hounds, and the six Negroes carrying pine- 
knot torches as the group walked through the woods. 
When the dogs found the opossum’s trail and fol¬ 
lowed it to a persimmon tree, Buck was permitted to 
climb the tree and shake him out. “Go right on up, 
Buck,” Uncle Ely had encouraged him. “He won’t 
hurt you. Just shake him down.” 
Buck climbed high. When he saw the small dark 
form out on a limb, Buck grabbed the limb and shook. 
Nothing happened. 
“Shake hard, Mistuh Billy Buck; shake ’im out,” 
the Negroes shouted encouragement. 
