Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-12
GOPHER DUEL IN FLORIDA
A Light w eight Against Heavy weight
3ge 1ot and hight WeIkhE Wins.
q aIi 70 From lte NeaS Yorh SUI. 107.9

"a 4ide, From NE Neb YORK SUN.
80 Yer never see er pair gophers fight,
reckon" said an old Florida native, as he
bent forward meditatively and shot q
stream or juice through the open door OF
the cabin plumb onto the ear of an old
fazbr.baek sow that went gruntipg by
After had answered I'm the negative he
said:
81 reckoned yer never had, but kin tell
yer for pure cussedness and obstinacy
them critters will beat any thing, not ex-
cepting gators"
We were sitting in little cabin among
the piney woods of Florida. Our supper
of bacon and coffee was over. and my
host, an old alligator hunter, had been
moved to make the above remarks by the
sight of gopher, or land turtle, waddling
along on its ungainly legs.
Eyer may think IL funny tibet er turtle
kin fight, and | wouldn't blame yer il yer
did. wouldn't believe 1t myself If
hadn't seen er couple OF 'em going 1t
hammer and tongs t'other day.
''Yer see, I'd been humping round arter
'gaters all day, and hadn't had no luck at
all-dida't get any skim Toward sum
dOVnfI 7started fur home, GUESSING my
luck and wishing I'd never bin born er
gator hunter. jest as cum tOthat air
barren over yender l. see couple Of er
gOphers er padding toward each other.
and the way they made th' sand fly was
er caution.
cod friends, I said ter myself. 'Hain't
met fur or long time, and air right glad
to see each other. Reckon Pllsit down
and see.' Ydaf Hesf
$50 settled on en- old log and watched
tn proceedln's. Th' gopher highest ter
me was er little cuss, ez nimble ez a
coon, but the other teller was big and
kinder clumsy. ieA h
'sWhen them critters he'd got within
five feet Of one nuther they stopped dead
short. Then they waddled round In er
circle, their heads er way out, err kinder
watching each other. All of er suddint
tn leetle gOph made err dart at thu big
| one. Fur er mint / oouldn't see nuthin,
| thu sand fyed so. Ez soon ez it settled er
bit seed what that leetle cuss was up
ter. He was err irwin TO turn the fat one
on to his back. 'Twan't no go that time,
| howsomever, tn fat I'm he'd too firm er
hold in TIL sand, and the leetle feller
couldn't bulge him en- inch.
"'ToO bad, leetle feller,' sed to myself.
| You'd better give that contract up and
put In err bid fer err smaller one.'
"But the little goph' was game, and /
| could see by his face that he wouldn't give
up jest then. Th' big teller looked ez con-
| tented ez er mud turtle on err log, and ar
ter be see what thu leetle cuss was up ter
he lay perfectly still end blinked his eyes.
When th' leetle goph' was kinder rested
he tackled the old Teller agin, and I'll be
dod rotted OF he didn't keep the racket up
fur nigh onto an hour. | never see sech
Obstinacy in my life. Fin'lly tn fat one
thought ned take err wback at 1t hisself,
but, bless yer soul, he couldn't no more
ketch that leetle goph' then he could ny,
end when he begun ter hump round twas
Jest what tn leetle feier wanted.
'sThings went on this way fur about FIVE
minits, tn leetle cuss watching fur a
chance all tn time ter git tn big one over.
At last ho sec tn big un sorter stumble
inter er boiler. an quicker'n scat his head
was under til big ones shell and over
he went. Jest yelled right out, was so
tIckled TO see thet leetle feller's pluck.
Th' leetle goph' didn't seem ter mind tn
noise at all; he jest snuhed round thu BIG
feller or mint, and then scuttled OF ter
supper.
"Arter he was outer sight I turned III
big one onter his legs agin, fer thought
twas too bad ter leave him thar ter die.
/ reckon tharll be some fun when them
two meet agin, tho"