The coon ran
as hard as it could, the dog and hunters came after it;
again it was overtaken, and, turning with a fierce snarl, it
taught the dog a second lesson. Thus, running, dodging,
and turning to fight, the coon got back to the woods, and
there made a final stand under a small, thick tree; and,
when the dog was again repulsed, climbed quickly up into
the branches.
The hunters did all they could to excite the dog, until he
was jumping about, tryng to climb the tree, and barking
uproariously. This was exactly what they wanted.
Skookum's first lesson was learned -- the duty of chasing
the big animal of that particular smell, then barking up
the tree it had climbed.
Quonab, armed with a forked stick and a cord noose,
now went up the tree. After much trouble he got the
noose around the coon's neck, then, with some rather
rough handling, the animal was dragged down, maneuvered
into the sack, and carried back to camp, where it was
chained up to serve in future lessons; the next two or three
being to tree the coon, as before; in the next, the coon
was to be freed and allowed to get out of sight, so that the
dog might find it by trailing, and the last, in which the
coon was to be trailed, treed, and shot out of the tree,
so that the dog should have the final joy of killing a
crippled coon, and the reward of a coon-meat feast.
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