At the crack
of the rifle, the animal leapt dear of the ledge, struck once against
the face of the rock some twenty feet below, and then went, end over
end, thirty feet into the river. As he struck the water he commenced
swimming round and round in a circle, evidently bewildered by
Spalding's bullet, or the effect of his involuntary plunge down the
rocks. Our men bent to their oars, and had got within five or six rods
of it, when it straightened up in alarm for the shore.
"Hold on, Cullen," said I, "lay steady for a moment." I drew upon the
animal, and just as it reached the shore, fired, and it turned over
dead. We found it to be a black fox, that had walked out upon the
ledge, and thus been added another victim to the indulgence of an idle
curiosity. Spalding's bullet had grazed its belly, raking off the hair
and graining the skin; mine had gone through its head.
"There, Judge," said Cullen, as he lifted the animal into the boat,
"is a kritter that isn't often met with in these parts, and the wonder
is, that he didn't discover us as we floated down the stream. He's
about the cunningest animal that travels the woods. He's got an eye
that's always open, a delicate ear, and a sharp nose, and he keeps 'em
busy, as a general thing. He never neglects their warnin', but puts
out about the quickest, whenever they notify him that there's an enemy
about.
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