eech and had uttered them
aloud. In accordance with them, therefore, he crept on, intending to
spring upon the 'possum unawares.

The latter, however, before commencing to eat, like all who know that
they have done a guilty deed, raising herself to her full height, looked
around to see if any one had been a witness to the act. Her eyes fell
upon the lynx; and, hastily seizing the hare in her teeth, she plunged
into the bramble.

The lynx, seeing that further concealment was of no use, bounded forward
with curved back and mane erect. He did not at once follow into the
briars, but ran around them, in order to discover at what point the
'possum had hid herself. He was not without apprehensions that _she
might have a hole there_. If so, good-bye to both hare and 'possum,
thought he.

It appeared not, however; for, after a few circlings around the patch,
he was seen to dash boldly in.

For some time nothing could be seen of either lynx or 'possum. The
patch covered only a few yards of the prairie, but it was a regular
"brake," with vines, briars, and thistles, thickly interwoven and
canopied with leaves. Neither uttered any noise; but the motion of the
leaves, and of the brambles at different points, told that a hot pursuit
was going on underneath--the pursued no doubt baffling the pursuer, by
her body being much smaller and better adapted for squeezing through
narrow places.

For some minutes this curious chase was kept up. Then the 'possum
glided out into the open ground, to the astonishment of all still
carrying the hare in her mouth. She made directly for the tree, and
proceeded to climb it, grasping the trunk with her fore-arms, like a
human being. Her taking to the tree also excited surprise, as it was a
small one--not over thirty feet high--and the young hunters knew that
the lynx could climb as well as she.

The latter now came out of the bramble; and with one bound sprang to the
foot of the pecan. He did not follow up immediately, but stopped a
moment to breathe himself, evidently exulting--as he knew he could
easily climb after, and feeling satisfied that he now had his game safe
and secure.

"Treed at last, old mother 'possum!" soliloquised he, although not
_aloud_. "I'll get you now, an' if I don't give you a good woppin' for
the trouble you've put me to--_see if I don't_! I wouldn't eat ye,
nohow--you ain't sweet enough for that--but I'll eat that hare, an' I'll
chastise you for using it s