long. I had hold with 
both hands, but he be- 
gan to sink lower an’ 
lower. It seemed to 
me Ed was a terrible 
while gettin’ down out 
o’ that tree. I was all 
in, and let him hang 
so low that he grabbed 
me by the boot! I 
yelled to Ed to hurry 
up an’ dropped the 
’ecoon again an’ kicked 
him loose. - Just then 
Ed got down and came 
running over. I got 
Mr. ’Coon by the tail 
once more an’ dragged 
him backwards over 
the ground to straight- 
en him out. Ed got 
the forked stick over 
his neck, an’ then the 
both of us managed to 
get the collar an’ chain 
on. 
+ E tied the chain 
short to the end 
of a pole, so we could 
hold him off while we 
led him home. He went 
along just like a danc- 
in’ bear on his hind 
legs, holdin’ the chain 
in his front paws. 
Sometimes he’d take a 
run and bite at the pole. Then he’d 
lay down and make us drag him. 
“We got him home all right and put 
him in a cage. After a few days he 
began to eat, but he never did get tame, 
an’ he’d never eat while you was lookin’ 
at him.” 
“What did he eat, Uncle John?” 
“Why, ’most anything you could 
think of. I fed him scraps from the 
table, meat, potatoes, fish, veg’tables, 
fruit and sweet stuff. He was spe- 
cially fond of honey or candy. I always 
thought they were great for field corn, 
but this one would generally leave that 
till last. I only found one thing that 
he wouldn’t eat.” 
“What was that?” 
“Shredded codfish. 
like the salt on it. 
I guess he didn’t 
evar Kites 
HERE came a short staccato yelp 
from somewhere out in the dark- 
ness. Little Snap jumped to his feet 
and stood with ears cocked still farther 
forward. Uncle John smiled in expec- 
tation and puffed energetically at his 
pipe. Silence a few moments, then 
“Yap! Yap!’—this time about a hun- 
dred yards further up the side of the 
mountain. The terrier tore off through 
the underbrush like mad, and we heard 
the rustle of the leaves grow fainter 

Photo by George Shiras 3rd 
Billy ’Coon takes his own photograph 
and fainter in the direction from which 
the barking had come. 
Uncle John grinned. 
“Got ’im goin’!” he said. 
Ws sat there a few moments longer, 
while the occasional yelping pro- 
gressed along the mountainside for a 
considerable distance. 
“Better follow ’em up a little,” an- 
nounced Uncle John, getting to his feet. 
That was what I was all too impatient 
to do, and we started off together, 
guided now and then by a shrill yap 
from old Nellie. Perhaps ten minutes 
passed in this way, when suddenly the 
barking changed key. 
OY Tee: 
Uncle John _ stood 
still, and I could hear 
my heart thump! 
thump! thump! 
oY Le YeenY Li 
“He’s up!” shouted 
Uncle John and started 
on arun. I was after 
him, smashing through brush, stum- 
bling over rocks, falling down and 
scrambling on again, trying to keep 
close behind that bobbing, blinking lan- 
tern. Above the racket of our travel 
the clamor of the dog was growing 
louder. 

At last we arrived, 
breathless and sweat- 
ing, where Nellie 
was dancing around a 
giant oak, looking up 
and barking as if pos- 
sessed. Little Snap 
was there, too, clawing 
and biting at the bark 
of the tree. The leaves 
still hung tight in a 
dense brown mass 
which baffled our flash- 
lights. 
SY oe to go up?” 
asked Uncle 
John. 
“No, you know more 
about it; you go up,” I 
answered. 
Fortunately, it was 
a pin oak, and the first 
scraggly limb was not 
far from the ground. 
I gave Uncle John a 
“leg-up” and he climb- 
ed slowly out of sight. 
Through the leaves I 
could see the searching 
beam of his flashlight 
as it rose higher and 
higher, and shifted 
from limb to limb. 
Surely he must be near 
the top by this time! 
Would he find a ’coon? 
After what seemed like an age, came 
the voice from above. “I see him!” 
Silence for a minute, then a rustling 
of the leaves far up in the top. Uncle 
John was shaking the tree! 
“Here he comes!” Uncle John must 
have thought I was miles away, judg- 
ing by the energy he put into that 
shout. I held my breath. There was 
a crash through the branches and a 
great furry body fell with a thump 
like a pumpkin almost at my feet. In 
a flash both dogs were on him, and 
such a fury as whirled about in the 
leaves I had never seen before. They 
rolled and tumbled and gnashed about 
with such violence that 
I could hardly distin- 
guish one from the 
other. Uncle John was 
shouting encourage- 
ment from the _ tree 
and coming down at a 
rate that proved hard 
on the cloth of his 
trousers. I pranced 
around the fight trying to get in a 
whack with my club, but dared not 
strike for fear of hitting a dog. Soon 
Uncle John was down. The ’coon be- 
gan to weaken a little, and as the an- 
tagonists drew apart for an instant a 
rap on the head killed him. 
Page 390 
