a sort of unconscious acknowledgment—I was too interested in my 
coons up the tree to really stop and admire the scenery. I knew when 
my coons jumped they would land in the river, so I shook the grape 
vine and the coons jumped into the river. In went Pudle, Nip and 
Nero after them while Braun stood on the bank and kept up a con¬ 
tinual howling bark to encourage the younger dogs to keep up the 
fight. Braun was too wise to tackle a coon in water and Nip and 
Nero very soon gave up the fight and swam to the bank, but Pudle, 
who was then not more than a year old, fought a large male coon 
down the river for at least 300 yards while I ran along the bank 
beside him, giving him all the encouragement I could. At last I could 
see them swimming toward the bank, but could not tell which was 
in the lead, but as they neared the bank Braun, Nip and Nero rushed to 
meet them and in a few minutes the coon had completely surrendered. 
Next, in the order of my esteem, came Nip. He w T as a small, 
white, woolly fiest. Many times the dogs would corner coons in piles 
of rocks, hollow logs or holes in the bank of the river and I would 
talk to Nip, tell him he was a smart, brave dog—to “go get him” 
and though Nip w r as only the size of a large coon and it vms rather 
cruel to expect him to go after one, he would take me at my word 
and go after it, tie into it for life and sometimes bring the coon out 
unassisted, while other times he would drag at the coon until he got 
close to the edge of the hole where I could reach him and I would 
catch hold of Nip’s hind legs and gently pull him out and he would 
keep a firm hold on the coon all the time, with the result that he 
would pull him out of the hole for me to grasp, or the other dogs to 
catch—or other times if the hole was large enough that Nip could 
pass the coon he would make the coon back out and if once Pudle 
got his teeth in the coon it was “fare you well, Mr. Coon”. 
Nero was not much of a dog. Like some men, he was a poor 
sticker and a bad Her. 
I remember one very interesting hunt. Old Braun struck a coon 
track in the timber near Duck River. It was in the summer and very 
hot. I was barefooted. The coon had. left the river and gone into 
a field that lay up and down the river and as the dogs got straightened 
out on his track I climbed to the top of a rail fence in order to better 
view the country. Suddenly I heard the rattle of a rattlesnake and 
as he kept up the rattling constantly I stayed at the top of the fence, 
because I couldn’t see him and didn’t want to get down until I had 
located him. The dogs were barking at the coon, which they had by 
this time treed, and I w T as, of course, anxious to go to them, but the 
rattler kept up his persistent rattling. Finally I could hold myself 
no longer and decided to take a broad jump and light running. This 
I did and I didn’t stop running until I had reached my dogs. 
They had treed the coon in a hole along the edge of the river. 
I told Nip to go in and get him and without hesitating the little brave 
dog went in after a coon almost his size. I could hear the coon making 
an angry noise and Nip barking and growling, trying to confuse and 
frighten him; then all at once silence; presently I heard them resume 
the fight—but now they were about twenty feet below me in the 
— 10 — 
