The Coconino weekly sun., 1894-08-30
SMUDGING A HA'NT.
An Adventure in the Mountains
 of Tennessee.

All the boys in Wildcat cove be- Geved implicitly in the existence of ghosts. Why should they not when their elders put such perfect faith in genuine "ha'nts?" From generation to generation thrilling tales of ghostly wanderers were handed down as the richest possession of some particular ceve'or mountain. 't A cove in Tennessee is long, deep valley among the mountains. Wildcat cove, extending away back among the cliffs of the Tennessee mountains, was exactlythe. place haunt might be supposed toyenjoy. But until Bud Sims and Coon Tabor's memorable encoun- ter on the ledge above Lost creek, no one had ever met the ha'nt of Wildcat cove face to face.
 1t was just the day for grand hunt, and Bud and Coon determined to make the most of it. Long before the sun had found its way over the top of Wal den ridge, while the morning sky was yet chill and gray, the boys were on their way to the headiof the cove.
 When they reached the banks of Lost creek the eastern sky was a sea of rip bling pink, feclxed with soft, dim dashes of changing gold and gray, and by the time they str Ick the ledge, far over the distant ridge beyond, the sun was rising slowly over the dark noun tain and the cloud mists were rolling up from the valleys.
 Half way up the cliff the boys stopped for a moment to rest, for the path was unusually rough and steep. The point which they had in mind was two miles further on, in the range, as the woods where cattle feed or range" in winter, are called.
 Although where the cove was wider it was now quite light, down here in the ravine through which the creek rushed, foaming and rough, to it's un- derground prison beyond, it was only a dim twilight as yet They had climbed quite distance already, and below them the waters of the creek roared and rushed. Far above on either side rose the ragged lodges of rock which formed the lined walls of the cove. Behind the jutting rock where the boys were resting was a narrow passage leading into a deep hole in the cliff,
 Genuine mountain boys as Bud and Coon both were, they of course were familiar with every.inch of grounds for miles around, <. There was nothing alarming to them in this dark hole; they knew it well. It was only a tis- sure in the rock, such as could be found in all the limestone cliffs among the mountains, and it extended, so far as they knew; only some thirty feet back from the ledge. It was not wide enough for even boy to squeeze through with any degree of comfort, and at last grew so narrow that even the curious Coon had been able to go no further.
 The boys had always thought that the passage probably led to the under ground course of Lost creek; for the waters below suddenly disappear be- heath the cliff, and where they appear again has never been discovered.
 There ewas no sound in the ravine except the roar of the waters below. The people in the valley had not begun the days work as yet, and the fields were quiet and deserted.
 Coon broke the silence. Bud was the elder, but Coon usually took the lead. Hit air on this ledge as the ha'nts been walkin', Bud. Old Man Waters seen hit no (later'n a-Chewsday week."