The Desert Home: The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

  THE CUNNING OLD "'COON."

  "We now continued our journey toward our fishing-ground, Cudjo havinghung the porcupine to a tree, with the design of taking it home with himon our return. It was Cudjo's intention to skin it, and eat part or thewhole of it,--a species of food, which he assured us, he had often eatenbefore, and which tasted equal to young pig. None of us were likely tojoin Cudjo in such a meal; but at all events, thought we, when thequills and skin are removed, our dogs might get a morsel of it as areward for their sufferings. This was an object, certainly; as, out ofour scanty larder, Castor and Pollux did not fare the best sometimes.

  "We soon arrived upon the bank of the creek, and close to the pool.This was a long stretch of deep dark water, with a high bank on oneside, shadowed over with leafy trees. On the opposite side, the bankwas low, and shelved down to the edge--while several logs lay along it,half covered with water, and half of them stretching up against thebank.

  "We took the high bank for our station, as upon this there was a spot ofsmooth grassy turf, shaded by beautiful palmetto-trees, where thechildren could tumble about. Here Mary sat down with them, while therest of us proceeded to fish. Of course, we could do no more than throwin our lines, and then wait until the fish should be fools enough tobite. We conversed very quietly, lest the noise of our talking shouldfrighten the fish--though this was only an imagination of our own. Wehad not been watching our floats more than five minutes, when wenoticed, here and there, a slight stir in the water; and, in the midstof the little circles thus made, we could see small black objects notunlike the heads of snakes. At first we took them for these. Cudjo,however, knew better than we what they were, for he had often seen themwhile fishing in the creeks of Virginia.

  "`Golly, Massa!' cried he, as soon as they made their appearance, `decreek here am full ob de turtle.'

  "`Turtles!' exclaimed Harry.

  "`Yes, Massa Harry,' replied Cudjo; `and as dis nigger lib, de am dereal soff-shell turtle! Dat's de meat for dis child Cudjo,--better danfish, flesh, fowl, or 'possum,--dat am de soff-shell.'

  "As Cudjo spoke, one of the turtles `bobbed' up nearly under where wesat; and, from the elongated shape of its head, resembling a snout, andthe flexible shell that bent up and down along its edges, as he swam, Isaw it was a species of _trionyx_, or soft-shelled turtle,--in fact, itwas that known as _trionyx ferox_, the most prized of all the turtlerace for the table of the epicure. Here, then, was another luxury forus, as soon as we could catch them.

  "I turned round; and was on the point of asking Cudjo how this could beaccomplished, when I saw that my float went suddenly down, and I felt apull upon the line. I thought, of course, it was a fish, and commencedhandling it; but, to my surprise, on bringing it to the surface, Iperceived that I had hooked one of the turtles, and no doubt the sameone which had looked up at us but a moment before. He was not a verylarge one; and we soon landed him; when Cudjo secured him simply byturning him over upon his back. As I learnt from Cudjo, these creatureswill eagerly bite at anything that may be thrown into the water andappears strange to them. Of the truth of this we had a curiousdemonstration shortly afterwards.

  "In a few minutes more, each of us had taken several good-sized fish;and we still continued watching our rods in silence, when our attentionwas attracted to the movements of an animal upon the opposite bank, andabout one hundred yards below where we sat. We were all well acquaintedwith this animal; and Harry, the moment he saw it, whispered,--

  "`Look, papa! mamma! a 'coon!'

  "Yes, it was a raccoon. There was no mistaking the broad dark-brownback, the sharp fox-looking face and snout, and the long bushy tail,with its alternate rings of black and yellowish white. The short thicklegs, the erect ears, and the white and black marks of the face, werefamiliar to all of us--for the raccoon is one of the best-known animalsin America, and we had it among our pets.

  "At the sight of the `'coon,' Cudjo's eyes fairly glistened--for thereis no animal that affords so much sport to the negroes of the UnitedStates as the 'coon; and he is, therefore, to them as interesting acreature as the fox to the red-coated hunters of England. Hunting theraccoon is one of the principal amusements which the poor slave enjoys,in the beautiful moonlight nights of the Southern States, after he hasgot free from his hard toil. By them, too, the flesh of the 'coon iseaten, although it is not esteemed much of a dainty. The 'possum isheld in far higher estimation. Cudjo's eyes then glistened as soon ashe set them upon his old and familiar victim.

  "The 'coon all this while had seen none of us, else he would soon havewidened the distance between us and himself. He was crawling cautiouslyalong the bank of the creek, now hopping up on a log, and now stoppingfor a while, and looking earnestly into the water.

  "`De ole 'coon go to fish,' whispered Cudjo; `dat's what he am after.'

  "`Fish!' said Harry.

  "`Yes, Massa Harry. He fish for de turtle.'

  "`And how will he catch them?' inquired Harry.

  "`Golly, Massa Harry, he catch 'em. Wait, you see.'

  "We all sat quietly watching his manoeuvres, and curious to witness howhe would catch the turtles; for none of us, with the exception of Cudjo,knew how. We knew that it was not likely he would leap at them in thewater, for these animals can dive as quickly as a fish; besides they canbite very severely, and would be sure to take a piece out of the 'coon'sskin, should he attack them in their own element. But that was not hisintention, as we presently saw. Near the end of one of the logs thatprotruded into the water, we observed the heads of several turtlesmoving about on the surface. The raccoon saw them also, for he wasstealthily approaching this log with his eyes fixed upon the swimmingreptiles. On reaching it, he climbed upon it with great silence andcaution. He then placed his head between his fore-legs; and, turninghis tail toward the creek, commenced crawling down the log,tail-foremost. He proceeded slowly, bit by bit, until his long bushytail hung over into the water, where he caused it to move gentlybackwards and forwards. His body was rolled up into a sort of clew,until one could not have told what sort of a creature was upon the log.

  "He had not remained many moments in this attitude, when one of theturtles, swimming about, caught sight of the moving tail; and, attractedpartly by curiosity, and partly in hopes of getting something to eat,approached, and seized hold of the long hair in his horny mandibles.But he had scarce caught it, before the 'coon unwound himself upon thelog; and, at the same time, with a sudden and violent jerk of his tail,plucked the turtle out of the water, and flung him high and dry upon thebank! Then following after, in three springs, he was beside his victim,which with his long sharp nose he immediately turned over upon itsback--taking care all the while to avoid coming in contact with thebill-like snout of the turtle. The latter was now at the mercy of the'coon, who was proceeding to demolish him in his usual fashion; butCudjo could stand it no longer, and away went he and the dogs, with loudshouts, across the creek.

  "The chase was not a long one, for in a few seconds the steady barkingof the dogs told us that poor `coony' was `treed.' Unfortunately, forhimself, he had run up a very low tree, where Cudjo was able to reachhim with his long spear; and when the rest of us got forward to thespot, we found that Cudjo had finished him, and was holding him up bythe tail, quite dead.

  "We now went back to our fishing; and although we caught no more of theturtles, we succeeded in taking as many fish as we wanted; and returningto the house, Mary cooked for us a most excellent fish dinner, which weall ate with a keen appetite."