
THEN old Uncle John Daniels 
. invited me to go ’coon hunting 
with him, I hardly knew how 
to pass the long afternoon until seven- - 
“ Yh, 5 
‘3 a3 broke her myself, ” said Re 
thirty. 
It was a muggy October evening, and 
Shar I arrived at my destination’ the © 
fog was gathering. in - the lowlands. 
Uncle John said it was a}!good night, 
and that was music'to my ears. We 
started down the lane, and as we turned 
to cross the cornfield, old} Nellie, the’ 
’coon ‘dog, trotted ahead in a business-, 
_ like manner and: passed ‘out of the 
~ circle of lantern light:.; She was a non- 
descript dog, about the size of a beagle, 
with a long, silky white coat spotted 
brown and black. 
‘Little Snap, a tiny fox terrier used 
in driving foxes out of their dens, pre- 
ferred to stay with us. As my host 
explained, he didn’t hunt, but went along 
just for the fight when the ’coon was 
caught. From his looks I judged that 
fighting must be his strong point. His 
little face was criss-crossed with scars, 
his ears were notched and ragged. On 
one side a tooth gleamed through where 
a chunk was bitten out of his upper 
lip. It. must take plenty of grit, I 
thought, for a little dog weighing only 
seven-and one-half pounds to match 
himself against ’coons and foxes. 
HEN we. pesihed the woods we 
slowed, -down to a snail’s pace. 
“We'll foller the creek for a ways,” 
said Uncle John. 
So.we, started up the little brook, 
walking partly in the bed, as it had 
been a very dry season and the water 
was low. We had not gone far before 
Uncle John picked out a log and sat 
down. 
“Better wait a bit,” he said. 
We sat there a while in silence, star- 
ing at the black tree trunks with their 
deep, motionless shadows, and listening 
intently. Little Snap sat beside us, 
with ears cocked forward, waiting. 
Not a sound broke the stillness, ex- 
cept occasionally a faint rustle of the 
Page 389 
against his feet. 
Ringtail 
By E. D. BLEECKER 
leaves that still remained on the trees. 
“Uncle John,” I ventured ‘at last, al- 
most ina whisper, “how did Nellie come 
to make'a,’ coon dog?” 
“How. ‘did you do it?” > 
“Well, I: had‘a live ’coon that I used 
__to lead around and put up a tree, until 
‘she’ learned to foller the track and 
bark up. 
' Then I hunted her a couple 
of nights with an old dog. It didn’t 
take her long to catch on.” 
“Where did you get the ’coon?” I 
asked. 
“Why, I just kept a’climbin’ holler 
trees till I found a ’coon where I could- 
get at him, and caught him alive.” 
“Caught him alive?” 
aye but it was a tough job. I got 
Ed Miller to help me, and we 
brought along a young rabbit hound, 
and a trap, and a collar and chain, and 
a good stout forked stick. I climbed 
up the tree first and. set the trap in 
the hole where he would have to come 
out of the holler limb, and tied a long 
cord to the chain. _Then I poked Mr. 
’Coon, an’ he came up to the hole growl- 
in’ an’ barkin’ just like a dog, and 
when he saw the trap he went back 
in again. But I kept on pokin’, and 
pretty soon out he came an’ never 
touched that trap at all! He went 
right on up to the top o’ the tree, an’ 
I didn’t know what to do for a minute. 
“Then I tied the trap on the end of ' 
a pole, an’ went up an’ tried to slap it 
But nothin’ doin’! 
He kept behind a limb and pulled his 
feet out o’ the way quicker’n I could 
move the trap, an’ after a while I gave 
it up. So I came down and sent Ed 
up to shake him out, an’ I was goin’ 
to get the forked stick over his neck. 
“Well, down he came, an’ the rabbit 
hound nailed 
into him, an’ 
th 6. Vie tie Cat 
hot. But they 
thrashed around 
so I couldn’t 
July - 1924" 
A ’Coon Hunt by the Light of the Harvest Moon 
seem to get that stick across his neck 
at all. Pretty soon he got the hound 
by the ear and made him holler. I 
got a bright idea then, an’ grabbed 
him by the tail with one hand an’ by 
the scruff o’ the neck with the other. 
But the son-of-a-gun let go of the dog 
an’ hooked a front paw over my arm 
an’ began to twist. Gosh, but a ’coon 
is a strong thing! I couldn’t no more 
hold him than nothin’! He just turned 
his head and took right hold o’ my 
wrist, an’ then it was my turn to 
holler !” 
NCLE JOHN stretched out a sinewy 
brown wrist in the lantern light 
and showed me the scar. 
“I dropped that ’coon like he was a 
hot potato, an’ he sat there a minute 
an’ growled at me. The hound didn’t 
seem anxious to take hold of him again, 
and pretty soon he started..out. I 
wasn’t goin’ to have him get away, so I 
made a dive for him:and: got: him by 
the end of the tail again. This time 
I left the front end, alone, an’ held 
him out at arm’s-length bythe tip o’ 
the tail. He curled up on himself an’ 
tried to reach me, but couldn’t quite 
make it. 
“So that was all right, but pretty 
soon he began to get awful heavy. It 
ain’t no fun to hold seventeen squirmin’ 
jerkin’ pounds out at arm’s-length very 











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