The great night of the coon-hunt was frosty and still, with only a dim
light from the new moon. John York and his boys, and Isaac Brown,
whose excitement was very great, set forth across the fields toward the
dark woods. The men seemed younger and gayer than the boys. There was
a burst of laughter when John Henry Brown and his little brother
appeared with the coon dog of the late Mr. Abijah Topliff, which had
promptly run away home again after Mrs. Price had coaxed him over in
the afternoon. The captors had tied a string round his neck, at which
they pulled vigorously from time to time to urge him forward. Perhaps
he found the night too cold; at any rate, he stopped short in the
frozen furrows every few minutes, lifting one foot and whining a
little. Half a dozen times he came near to tripping up Mr. Isaac Brown
and making him fall at full length.
"Poor Tiger! poor Tiger!" said the good-natured sportsman, when
somebody said that the dog did n't act as if he were much used to being
out by night. "He 'll be all right when he once gets track of the
coon." But when they were fairly in the woods, Tiger's distress was
perfectly genuine. The long rays of light from the old-fashioned
lanterns of pierced tin went wheeling round and round, making a tall
ghost of every tree, and strange shadows went darting in and out behind
the pines. The woods were like an interminable pillared room where the
darkness made a high ceiling. The clean frosty smell of the open
fields was changed for a warmer air, damp with the heavy odor of moss
and fallen leaves. There was something wild and delicious in the
forest in that hour of night. The men and boys tramped on silently in
single file, as if they followed the flickering light instead of
carrying it. The dog fell back by instinct, as did his companions,
into the easy familiarity of forest life. He ran beside them, and
watched eagerly as they chose a safe place to leave a coat or two and a
basket. He seemed to be an affectionate dog, now that he had made
acquaintance with his masters.
"Seems to me he don't exactly know what he 's about," said one of the
York boys scornfully; "we must have struck that coon's track somewhere,
comin' in."
"We 'll get through talkin', an' heap up a little somethin' for a fire,
if you 'll turn to and help," said his father. "I 've always noticed
that nobody can give so much good advice about a piece o' work as a new
hand. When you 've treed as many coons as your Uncle Brown an' me, you
won't feel so certain. Isaac, you be the one to take the dog up round
the ledge, there. He 'll scent the coon quick enough then. We 'll
'tend to this part o' the business."
"You may come too, John Henry," said the indulgent father, and they set
off together silently with the coon dog. He followed well enough now;
his tail and ears were drooping even more than usual, but he whimpered
along as bravely as he could, much excited, at John Henry's heels, like
one of those great soldiers who are all unnerved until the battle is
well begun.
A minute later the father and son came hurrying back, breathless, and
stumbling over roots and bushes. The fire was already lighted, and
sending a great glow higher and higher among the trees.
"He's off! He 's struck a track! He was off like a major!" wheezed
Mr. Isaac Brown.
"Which way 'd he go?" asked everybody.
"Right out toward the fields. Like's not the old fellow was just
starting after more of our fowls. I 'm glad we come early,--he can't
have got far yet. We can't do nothin' but wait now, boys. I 'll set
right down here."
"Soon as the coon trees, you 'll hear the dog sing, now I tell you!"
said John York, with great enthusiasm. "That night your father an' me
got those four busters we 've told you about, they come right back here
to the ledge. I don't know but they will now. 'T was a dreadful cold
night, I know. We did n't get home till past three o'clock in the
mornin', either. You remember, don't you, Isaac?"
"I do," said Isaac. "How old Rover worked that night! Could n't see
out of his eyes, nor hardly wag his clever old tail, for two days;
thorns in both his fore paws, and the last coon took a piece right out
of his off shoulder."
"Why did n't you let Rover come tonight, father?" asked the younger
boy. "I think he knew somethin' was up. He was jumpin' round at a
great rate when I come out of the yard."
"I did n't know but he might make trouble for the other dog," answered
Isaac, after a moment's silence. He felt almost disloyal to the
faithful creature, and had been missing him all the way. "'Sh! there's
a bark!" And they all stopped to listen.
The fire was leaping higher; they all sat near it, listening and
talking by turns. There is apt to be a good deal of waiting in a
coon-hunt.
"If Rover was young as he used to be, I'd resk him to tree any coon
that ever run," said the regretful master. "This smart creature o'
Topliff's can't beat him, I know. The poor old fellow's eyesight seems
to be going. Two--three times he's run out at me right in broad day,
an' barked when I come up the yard toward the house, and I did pity him
dreadfully; he was so 'shamed when he found out what he 'd done.
Rover's a dog that's got an awful lot o' pride. He went right off out
behind the long barn the last time, and would n't come in for nobody
when they called him to supper till I went out myself and made it up
with him. No; he can't see very well now, Rover can't."
"He 's heavy, too; he 's got too unwieldy to tackle a smart coon, I
expect, even if he could do the tall runnin'," said John York, with
sympathy. "They have to get a master grip with their teeth through a
coon's thick pelt this time o' year. No; the young folks gets all the
good chances after a while;" and he looked round indulgently at the
chubby faces of his boys, who fed the fire, and rejoiced in being
promoted to the society of their elders on equal terms. "Ain't it time
we heard from the dog?" And they all listened, while the fire snapped
and the sap whistled in some green sticks.
"I hear him," said John Henry suddenly; and faint and far away there
came the sound of a desperate bark. There is a bark that means attack,
and there is a bark that means only foolish excitement.
"They ain't far off!" said Isaac. "My gracious, he's right after him!
I don't know's I expected that poor-looking dog to be so smart. You
can't tell by their looks. Quick as he scented the game up here in the
rocks, off he put. Perhaps it ain't any matter if they ain't
stump-tailed, long's they 're yaller dogs. He did n't look heavy
enough to me. I tell you, he means business. Hear that bark!"
"They all bark alike after a coon." John York was as excited as
anybody. "Git the guns laid out to hand, boys; I told you we 'd ought
to follow!" he commanded. "If it's the old fellow that belongs here,
he may put in any minute." But there was again a long silence and
state of suspense; the chase had turned another way. There were faint
distant yaps. The fire burned low and fell together with a shower of
sparks. The smaller boys began to grow chilly and sleepy, when there
was a thud and rustle and snapping of twigs close at hand, then the
gasp of a breathless dog. Two dim shapes rushed by; a shower of bark
fell, and a dog began to sing at the foot of the great twisted pine not
fifty feet away.
"Hooray for Tiger!" yelled the boys; but the dog's voice filled all the
woods. It might have echoed to the mountain-tops. There was the old
coon; they could all see him half-way up the tree, flat to the great
limb. They heaped the fire with dry branches till it flared high. Now
they lost him in a shadow as he twisted about the tree. John York
fired, and Isaac Brown fired, and the boys took a turn at the guns,
while John Henry started to climb a neighboring oak; but at last it was
Isaac who brought the coon to ground with a lucky shot, and the dog
stopped his deafening bark and frantic leaping in the underbrush, and
after an astonishing moment of silence crept out, a proud victor, to
his prouder master's feet.
"Goodness alive, who 's this? Good for you, old handsome! Why, I 'll
be hanged if it ain't old Rover, boys; _it's old Rover_!" But Isaac
could not speak another word. They all crowded round the wistful,
clumsy old dog, whose eyes shone bright, though his breath was all
gone. Each man patted him, and praised him, and said they ought to
have mistrusted all the time that it could be nobody but he. It was
some minutes before Isaac Brown could trust himself to do anything but
pat the sleek old head that was always ready to his hand.
"He must have overheard us talkin'; I guess he 'd have come if he 'd
dropped dead half-way," proclaimed John Henry, like a prince of the
reigning house; and Rover wagged his tail as if in honest assent, as he
lay at his master's side. They sat together, while the fire was
brightened again to make a good light for the coon-hunt supper; and
Rover had a good half of everything that found its way into his
master's hand. It was toward midnight when the triumphal procession
set forth toward home, with the two lanterns, across the fields.