Hastily picking themselves up, and without pausing to relight the pine
splinters, they rushed pell-mell towards the sound of barking, bumping
into trees, stumbling over logs, scratching their faces and tearing
their clothes on thorny vines. But no one minded. Bim had treed a
'coon in the shortest time on record, and now if they could only get
it, the triumph would be ample reward for all their trials.
Finally, bruised, battered, and ragged, they reached the tree which
Bim, with wild leapings, was endeavoring to climb. Their first move
was to illumine the scene with a huge bonfire. By its light they
proceeded to a closer examination of the situation. The tree was a
huge moss-hung water-oak, evidently too large to be chopped down, as
all the 'coon trees of Solon's stories had been. So Winn offered to
climb it and shake out the 'coon. As yet they had not discovered the
animal, but Bim was so confident of its presence that they took his
word for it.
Solon had raised a false alarm as the first gleam of firelight
penetrated the dark mass of foliage above them by exclaiming:
"Dar he! Me see um! Lookee, Marse Brack, in dat ar crutch!"
But what the old negro saw proved to be a bunch of mistletoe, and when
Winn began his climb the 'coon's place of concealment was still
unknown.
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