where he is either
shaken off or the tree cut down. Sometimes the hunter climbs after and
forces him to leap out, so as to fall into the very jaws of the watchful
dog below.

"In Abe's opinion Pompo would have `treed' his 'coon before reaching,
the bottom, had not the fence interfered, but now--

"`Told ye so, massa!' muttered he, interrupting my thoughts. `Look dar!
dar's de tree--trunk thick as a haystack. Wagh!'

"I looked in the direction indicated by my companion. I saw Pompo
standing by the root of a very large tree, looking upward, shaking his
tail, and barking at intervals. Before I had time to make any farther
observations Abe's voice again sounded in my ears.

"`Gollies! it am a buttonwood! Why, Pomp, ole fellur, you hab made a
mistake--de varmint ain't dar, 'Cooney nebber trees upon buttonwood--
nebber--you oughter know better'n dat, ole fool!'

"Abe's speech drew my attention to the tree. I saw that it was the
American sycamore (_Platanus Occidentalis_), familiarly known by the
trivial name, `buttonwood,' from the use to which its wood is sometimes
put. But why should the 'coon not `tree' upon it, as well as any other?
I put the question to my companion.

"`'Cause, massa, its bark am slickery. De varmint nebber takes to 'im.
He likes de oak, an' de poplum, an' de scaly-bark. Gosh! but he am
dar!' continued Abe, raising his voice, and looking outward--`Look
yonder, massa! He had climb by de great vine. Dat's right, Pomp! you
am right after all, and dis nigga's a fool. Hee--up, ole dog! hee--up!'

"Following the direction in which Abe pointed, my eyes rested on a huge
parasite of the lliana kind, that, rising out of the ground at some
distance, slanted upward and joined the sycamore near its top. This had
no doubt been the ladder by which the 'coon had climbed.

"This discovery, however, did not mend the matter as far as we were
concerned. The 'coon had got into the buttonwood, fifty feet from the
ground, where the tree had been broken off by the lightning or the wind,
and where the mouth of a large cavity was distinctly visible by the
light of the moon. The trunk was one of the largest, and it would have
been sheer folly (so we concluded) to have attempted felling it.

"We left the spot without farther ado, and took our way back to the
corn-field.

"The dog had now been silent for some time, and we were in hopes that
another `varmint' might have stolen into the corn.

"Our hopes w