Then,
leaning upon the fence, he noted each greedy grunter as he wriggled
his small tail in keenest enjoyment and cracked the sweet corn.

No need was there to count; to the hog-feeder each animal possessed an
individuality so marked that in all the drove the absence of the most
insignificant was at once detected. So now, as he leaned upon the
fence, he cast anxious glances into the dimness beyond. Evidently some
were missing.

Drive, too, divining his master's thoughts, stood with look intent and
anxious yelp, impatient for the search to begin.

Then the word came, "Seek, boy!"

Scrambling through the fence, he dashed into every covert or tangle
wherein a hog might lurk, but without result; there came no rush of
feet, no shaking of the brown leaves, no startled grunt. All was
still, save for the quick panting of the old hound.

The old man then turned his eyes again upon the greedy mob, still
hoping to discover the missing ones amongst them. 'T was all in vain.

"De listed sow, _she_ done gone, an' de big white _hogue_, _he_ done
gone, an' seben head o' shotes!" he at length murmured, still,
however, casting expectant glances toward the thickets, in which Drive
was still sniffing with uneasy yelpings.

"Seem like dem creturs is clean gone, sho' nuf," he exclaimed, with an
air of unwilling conviction; then adding, "well, ef dey's gone, I 'se
got 'em to fine, dat's de trufe."

He called in the dog, and, taking his dinner bucket, climbed the fence
and struck off into the woods. Now and again he would pause, put his
horn to his lips, and give a long blast, then stand listening with
anxious expectancy. Every thicket was searched. It was a weary
tramp,--through bogs and sloshes, where the cypress knees stood up
like sugar-loaves in the shallow water, or sometimes his steps were
bent to some open glade, where the great oaks dropped sweet mast among
the brown leaves.

The day was no longer young when a low fence came into view; beyond it
stretched a levee, and at its base a glint of water showed itself
through the great trees, which stretched their mighty arms as though
they would embrace it.

Ung Jerry, after climbing the fence, mounted the levee and stood upon
the brink of a wide and muddy river. Taking off his hat, the old man
wiped the sweat from his face, then turned an observant eye upon the
river, whose muddy waters were already lapping the boughs of the
overhanging trees, and with a long-drawn breath excla