"No, Pa," Harky said hastily. "Just tell me again that all us Mundees
been on the trail of Old Joe."
"How kin ya ponder?" Mun asked. "My grandpappy told my pappy, who told
me, who told you, that Old Joe's been hunted by every Mundee."
"What do you think of Old Joe's big sycamore?" Harky questioned.
"It's a witch tree," Mun said seriously. "I ain't rightly been able to
figger if'n Old Joe takes wings an' flies off it or if'n he does jump in
the slough. But I'm sure that if'n Old Joe gits in his witch tree naught
can harm him."
"Ha!" Harky exclaimed. "Now we know!"
"Know what?" Again Mun was puzzled.
"All," Harky declared. "Mellie Garson gets mule-kicked; Melinda brings
Glory to horn in on our hunt; we get Old Joe up in his sycamore; Melinda
says it ain't no witch tree and Old Joe's naught but a big coon; you
believe her and try to climb; you bust your leg; Raw and Butt don't want
no more part of us--and," Harky wailed, "I can't even take pleasure on
account you can't make me fetch the corn in!"
"By gum!" Mun said, "you got it!"
"Sure I got it," Harky asserted. "Why'd you let Melinda horn in on our
coon hunt, Pa?"
"I don't rightly know," Mun admitted. "I wa'n't of no mind to have her,
an' I know Raw'n Butt wa'n't. But she was of a mind to go, an' gol ding
it, when a woman's of a mind to do somethin', they do it!"
"I would of stomped on her head if she'd fell in the mud," Harky assured
his father.
"I know," Mun meditated, "an' it wa'n't a poor notion. But, gol ding it,
men just don't mistreat wimmen."
"I still don't know why," said Harky.
"Nor I," Mun admitted. "They jest don't an' that's all. Your ma, she
didn't weigh mor'n half what I do, but she's the only mortal critter
ever made me take to the woods."
"Are women ornery all the time?" Harky questioned.
"'Bout half," Mun said. "Rest o' the time, well, they're wimmen."
"What else do you know about 'em, Pa?"
"Durn little," Mun confessed. "What ya drivin' at anyhow, Harky?"
"Melinda put a spell on us," Harky said. "But it ain't all her doing.
Miss Cathby showed her how."
"I never thought of that," said Mun. "Never ag'in do I make ya go to
school, Harky."
"Good," Harky said. "But I got to get that spell off."
"How do ya aim to go about it?" Mun questioned.
"I'll ask Melinda to fetch Glory on another coon hunt," Harky declared.
"We'll run Old Joe up his sycamore again. Then I'll climb the tree and
make her climb with me. She'll eat mud when she finds out there ain't no
den."
"Harky!" Mun said joyously. "Your great-grandpappy would be right proud
of the way you talk!"
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