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- top to bottom. 
That tree was a solid sheet of fire from 
The rags recently used 
to smoke the ’coon out had set fire to 
the inside of the tree. The dead wood 
had burned through at the bottom, giv- 
ing it the effect of a flue, and making 
the center of the tree a solid firebrand. 
HE strong wind was blowing sparks 
all over the woods; luckily the 
leaves were damp enough to prevent a 
forest fire. It was only a short time 
until the tree burned off and fell down 
the hill not far from a creek. We took 
off our high boots and carried 
water in them until the flames 
were extinguished. 
After a three mile tramp back 
to the cabin in our heavy and 
stiff boots, we were certainly 
glad to roll into our bunks. A 
good day of sleep, and a good 
big supper put us on our toes 
for the next night’s hunt. We 
were getting ready to leave the 
cabin early, intending to drive 
to Bear Wallow Woods that 
night, when we heard a machine 
come up the creek and stop at 
the road that led up to our 
cabin. 
Some one called out our names 
and we thought it was some of 
the neighbor boys that had come 
to hunt with us. It was one of - 
our neighbors, Jim Reed, who 
lived near our home. He had 
sent to some place in Missouri 
for a ’coon dog with the inten- 
tion of going with us on the 
trip if the dog arrived in time. 
We d:d not want him, but 
there he was, with a fairly good 
looking Blue Tick hound that he 
had paid seventy-five dollars for, 
guaranteed to be a first-class 
dog. How he ever found us has 
always been a mystery to me; 
some one who knew the location 
of our cabin surely directed him. 
We were delayed getting him 
rigged out, and fed, and started 
so late that we decided to hunt 
around close to home that night. 
After setting out from the cabin 
about ten o’clock, we found that his dog 
was not used to the hills and would not 
go out of the light of the lantern, but 
we did not think so much about that 
as our dogs were strange to him and 
' very quick to get away. 
HEN our dogs struck the first 
trail the new dog would not join 
in; moreover Bibby, after treeing the 
‘coon, refused to let him get near the 
tree. It was a tall tree, and while 
we could have easily shot the coon out, 
we wanted to have some fun with Reed 
_ and his dog. We stationed them about 
¥ 
i 
where we thought the ’coon would fall, 
Sam climbed the tree and shook the 
‘coon out. I held our dogs because we 
were going to let Jim’s dog kill the 
’coon’so he would get the experience. 
The ’coon came down and fell right 
on Jim and his dog, knocking Jim head 
over heels. The dog made a noise like 
some one had kicked his ribs in; he 
didn’t seem to know what had hap- 
pened. If our dogs had not been there 
that ’coon would be running yet. We 
had a good laugh over it but did not 
let Jim hear us. 

Billy ’Coon up a tree 
We caught several more ’coon that 
night and the guaranteed dog didn’t 
know what it was all about. 
As we were coming home about day- 
light the dogs ran a cold trail to a hol- 
low gum tree which we knew was a 
den. It was nearly morning and we 
decided to wait until daylight and cut 
the tree, wishing to have some more fun 
with Jim’s dog. It took only a few 
minutes to fell the tree, but the ’coon 
did not appear. We put the chains on 
our dogs and chopped the ’coon out. 
Jim’s dog: seemed to be anxious to get 
at it while it was in the tree, but when 
the ’coon came out on the ground, it 
whipped the dog in about two minutes. 
Through the woods went the dog with 
the ’coon right after him, the dog howl- 
ing like he had a can tied to his tail. 
We freed our dogs and they settled Mr. 
Coon. 
After we had returned to the cabin 
and eaten breakfast, Jim and his dog 
disappeared, and we did not see him 
again until we arrived at home. He 
had walked ten miles to Burlingham, 
secured a rig to Athens and taken the 
first train for home. The dog was re- 
turned to the kennel, and I un- 
derstand that Jim got his money 
refunded. He never mentioned 
’coon hunting to us again. 
© ie morning when we got 
back to the cabin the dogs 
were along the creek, running a 
cold trail; however, we were 
tired and thought they would 
soon come in. We finished break- 
fast and stretched skins, but still 
they had not shown up at the 
cabin. We decided to look for 
them and found them barking 
up a maple tree with a big hole 
in it. 
The tree was about half dead, 
and we were debating whether 
or not to chop it down when a 
farmer, who lived close by, came 
over and told us to go ahead and 
cut it. The tree was hollow at 
the butt and it took us only a 
few minutes to fell it. The 
farmer had a big Collie dog 
which he claimed had treed and 
killed many ’coons. 
The tree had fallen with the 
hole on the under side, but we 
quickly chopped through to the 
hollow part. We were very 
much surprised to find that 
there were four ’coons in the 
tree, the mother and three full- 
grown cubs. The farmer want- 
ed the cubs for his Thanksgiv- 
ing dinner, so we pinned them 
down and stuck them with our 
hunting knives. Then we put 
the chains on our dogs and 
chopped the old mother ’coon out. With 
the top of the tree split off, we chased 
the ’coon out on the ground. The Collie 
was big enough to eat her, but we could 
see that he had never killed a ’coon in 
his life, probably had never seen one 
before. It turned out to be the most 
laughable ’coon fight we had ever wit- 
nessed. When that big Collie would 
jump in with his front feet, the mother 
coon would tear a piece out of his nose, 
ears, or front legs: The Collie tried to 
hold her down with his front feet, but 
she would twist right out from under 
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