es, or
pull away the dirt from a root with his long hands, tastin' of one
thing and smellin' of another in a mighty dainty way. When he came to
my tree, he seemed to think that there might be something among its
branches worth looking at. So he came clambering up its rough bark
towards where I sat. He came up on the other side of the tree from me,
till he got about even with my huntin'-cap, and then came round to my
side, and there we were, face to face, not two feet apart. I reckon
that coon was astonished when our eyes met, for with a sort of scream
he let right loose, and dropped twenty feet to the ground like a clod,
and the way he waddled away into the brash, mutterin' and talkin' to
himself, was a thing to laugh at.

"The sun was, may be, an hour high, when lookin' along the line of
marked trees, I saw a black animal come trotting mighty softly towards
the trap I was watchin'. I knew him at once. He was a black fox, and I
knew that he was the gentleman that had been makin' free with my
property for the last few days. He trotted up to the trap, and walked
carefully around it, nosin' out towards the bait, but keepin' out from
under the pole. He seemed to understand what that pole meant, and that
if it fell on him, he'd be very likely to be hurt. After a little, he
trotted out to the other end of the pole, and gettin' on to it, walked
carefully along to within ten or twelve feet of the bait; if he didn't
begin jumpin' up and down till he sprung the trap, you may shoot me.
When he'd done that job, he went back, and gettin' hold of the bait
with his teeth, drew it out and began very cooly to eat it. By this
time I'd brought my rifle to bear upon the gentleman, but I gave him a
little law, to see what his next move would be. After he'd finished
the bait, and found there warn't any more to be come at, he stretched
himself on his belly along the ground, and began lickin' his paws, and
passing them over his cheeks, as you've seen a cat do. After he'd
washed his face awhile, he sat himself down on his haunches, curled
his long bushy tail around his feet, and looked about as if
considerin' what he should do next. Just then I paid my respects to
him, and as my rifle broke the stillness of the forest, he turned a
double summerset, and after kickin' around a little, laid still. I
came down from my perch, and took the gentleman to the shanty and
added his hide to those of the martins I'd taken. My traps warn't
disturbed after t