Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-02-11
Gopher Duel in Florida.

Yer never see er pair gophers hgl Z
reckon" said an old Florida native,
as he bent forward meditatively and
shot a stream of juice through the open
door of the cabin plumb on to the ear
of an old razor-back SOW that went
grunting by.
After had answered in the negative,
he said; II reckoned yer never had,
but ] kin tell yer for pure cussedness
and obstinacy them critters will beat
anything, not excepting 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 re-
marks by the sight of a gopher, or land
turtle, waddling along on its ungainly
legs.
Yer may think it funny tibet er turtle
kin fight, and ] wouldn't blame yer if
yer did. | wouldn't believe it myself if
| hadn't seen er couple of EN- go-it
hammer and tongs t'other day.
Yer see, I'd been humping round
arter gators all day, and hadn't had no
luck at all-didn't get any skin. To
ward shutdown started fur home, cuss-
inc my luck and wishing I'd never been
born er gator hunter. Jest as cum to
that air barren over yender l see
couple er gophers er padding toward
each other, and the way they made tn
sand fly was or caution.
Old friends, l said ter myself.
'Haint met fur er long time, and air
right glad to see each other. Reckon
/ I'll sit down and see
so | settled on an old log and
watched til proceedin's. TIL gopher
highest ter me was er leetle clss, ez
nimble ~ a coon, but the other Teller
WAS big and kinder clumsy.
"Whcn 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, er
kinder watchin each other. All ef er
suddint tn leetle goph, made er dart at
tn big one Fur mint couldn't see
nuthin, tn sand flyed so. Ez soon ez
it settled er bit / seed what tibet leetle
cuss was up ter. He was er irwin to
turn tn fat one on to his back. 'Twan't
no 90 that time, howsomever, tn fat
I'M he'd too firm er hold in tn sand, an
the leetle teller couldn't bulge him en-
inch.
Too bad. leetle Teller, | sed to N.Y.
sell. You'd better Civ tibet contract up
and put in er bid fer er smaller one.
But the leetle goph' was game, and
could see by his face tibet he wouldn't
give up lest then. Tn big teller looked
rs contented ez er mud turtle on er log,
an after he see what tn leetle cuss was
up ter he Law purfectly still and blinked
his ewes. When tn leetle goph' was
kinder rested he tackled the old teller
acin, and I'll be dod rotted eff he didn't
keep the racket up fur nigh on to an
hour. | never see sech obstinacy in my
life. Fin'lly tn fat one thought he'd
take er whack at it hisself, but, bless
yer soul! he couldn't no more ketch that
leetle goph then he could hy, end when
he begun ter hump round twas jest
what tn leetle Teller wanted
Things went ON in this way fur
about five minits. tn leetle cuss watch
inc for a chance all tn time ter git tn
bio one over AT last he see tn big un
sorter stumble inter er holler, an quick
erin scat his head was under tn big
on's shell and over he went. | jest
yelled right out, was so tickled to see
that lettle feller's pluck. TIL leetle goph'
didn't seem ter mind tn noise at all; he
Jest snuffcd round tn big Teller er min
it. and then scuttled off ter supper.
'Arter he was outer sight | turned tn
/ big one onter his legs agin, fer thought
twas too bad ter leave him thar to die.
/ reckon thar'n be some fun when them
two meet agin, tho. N Y. San.