The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-07-13
A PLANTATION HUNT.
Seven Fet Coons Were Captured
After a Weary Tramp.

for successful coon hunt" said my
friend, Joe Wood, lighting another one
Of my Havanas and rocking himself
vigorously back and forth in the worn
hide-bottomed chair that occupied the
| coolest corner OF our boarding house
piazza. ITO begin with, it must be a
| good coon year-that is, the animals
must have good luck in raising their
young, the persimmons must have
fruitcd heavily, and. last OF all, there
should be a light furry of snow to bring
! them out into the open and give the
hounds chance. If you care for lit
/ tie sport" he continued, in his pleasant
| southern drawl, there are plenty Of
the little pests in the forests of Ingle-
side
One morning Wood lounged into the
! Office and proposed an immediate trip
to his homo. Nothing loath, hastily
| disposed of books and briefs, and turn
ing the key in my Office door we two
sailed forth together. All day we trav-
eled through rified corn and cotton
fields, dark, moss-hung swamps and
sombcr pine forests, for Wood lived al
-,
and it was evening when we stopped at
the little log station deep in the heart
of the pine lands. A darby, exceeding
ly black and ragged. and wholly unin-
telligible Ito mcl as to speech, mounted
on u mule and leading two others, were
the only living things in sight.
''All right, thisser way" said Wood,
falling quite naturally into the dialect
of the rice fields.
The road to Woods plantation led
partly through sonber pine forest
and partly through a sort of marshy
field. 1t was quite dark when we came
in sight of the long, low, wooden build
ing, and the red freight that flashed
through its many windows was cheer
ful sight to the weary traveller.
There was no one in sight to welc ONE
Wood save a superannuated old n egress,
extremely broad of person and glib of
tongue, who informed us that Miss
Girny and her nah done gone toe babe,
'kase dey warnt 'spectin' no comply,
let lone gentlemen"
Wood cut her short by ordering her
to produce whatever the house afford
ed in the shape of supper, and led the
way into the room through whose win
dows the freight shOne most brightly.
This room was long and low ceiled, its
walls covered almost, with pictures
hung in what at first seemed wild con-
fusior-engraving oils and chromos
all finding space and lending peculiar
horne-like charm to the ROOM
Upon the table a long-necked mando-
lin jostled several books of poems and a
few wcll-worn novels, ard long, soft,
white shawl trailed from the back Of
the hide bottomed chair in which Wood
cnsconced himself, signing me to take
the other at the opposite side of tho
wide, open fireplace.
The rank odor of frying bacon soon
pervaded the room and shortly after an
old negro, as dried and withered as the
negress was the reverse, entered with
the hastily prepared supper. The
crispy fried bacon strips, the odor Of
which had assaulted our olfactories
some moments before, floating in lit
tie sea of grease, some nicely Drowned
corn pone still bearing the impress of
old Dinah's three pudgy digits on the
upper crust, and some roasted vans,
with large cups of extremely strong
black coffee, completed the meal
The next day set in dismal and rainy,
and as we We're not to hunt until the
shades of evening were falling l de-
cided to remain for the present before
the huge fireplace, basking in the
warmth of a royal hickory fire and in
the presence of Miss Regina Wood.
Lovely and languid to degree, this
young woman seemed to have no more
occupation in life save that of swaying
gently to and fro in huge hide-bot-
toned rocker and admiriug her own love
IL rose-tinted hands. She passed the time
in neither reading nor stunning on the
piano, nor in the tiresome occupation of
fancy work, the manufacture OF which
seems to be the delight of SO many
women.
Toward night old 81 began his prep
aration for the hunt, and after supper
we sailed forth. There were neither
guns nor ammunition in the party, but
old ST carried several fat pine torches,
a sharp, new AK, and each hunter was
armed with stout stick.
Wood, old ST and myself, together
with two other young rich planters,
made up the party, between whom
there were twenty-five hounds, of every
color and breed, and as We marched
over field and through woods their bay
ing seemed to warn their canine friends
that the fun was up, for hounds from
every direction seemed TO gather and
join the hunt, until it seemed that the
whole woods was alive with their
eager. lean bodies
We travelled what seemed TO me sew
eral miles through bush and briar. The
soles of my boots We're polished smooth
as glass from treadiug on the pine
needles. and was well-nigh exhausted
before the first game was freed The
hounds gathered al the base OF sturdy
hickory sapling, and such an Internal
music as they kept up until we arrived
il was never before my lot . hear
"ney IS freed one, bless Gawd, dey is
freed ONE called out cid 81, and run
ming forward he beat off the dogs and
applied his ak TO the tree with quick
resoundin- strokes But the old darby
had only his trouble for his pains, Tor
just as the tree was afo1e % fall the
little animal sprang 70 the ground and
scampered into the swamp. the hounds
in full chase at his heels When trced
again the coon was found 20 be in
quite a large tree. and old 81 hesi;atei
TO attack il with his tx
Here you. William Washington