Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1897-04-05
ZEB WHITES BLUFF.
HE CARRIED 1T OUT, BUT 1T WAS
HARD WORK.

What the Possum Hunter of the Tenncs.
see Did When He Heard a wild Cry--A
Fight with a "Davis Gal" That Was All
He Wanted.
One autumn evening ms I sat before
the fire in the cabin of Zeb White, the
possum hunter Of Tennessee, asked
him to narrate an adventure. and after
u bit Of thinking, he said:
up to ten vars ago thar used to be
heaps and heaps Of painters (panthers)
on this yere mounting, and now and
then they would cum skulkin bout the
cabin of nights and cry out in way to
make yo'r ha'r stand up. One AFTERNOON
cum home from town to find my ole
woman in the sulks. She used to get
that way now and then, and it allus
ended in row When she began to jaw,
| began to whistle, but artcr half an
hour | got mad. I'd "a gone out and
slept i'll the woods, only it was gwine
TO bc dark and rainy night. She sulli-
ed, and sulked, and when it cum time
to go to he'd l SOt right we're and never
minded the time. She didn't offer to
make mp, and SO was sittin yCrc when
midnight cum. She was asleep, and so
was !, when thar cum Il cry from out
doahs. 1t was just like the hoot of a
! woman lost in the woods, and il was
ringin in my ears, when the ole woman
sits up in bed and calls out:
'Zeb White, what OH airth was
that?'
"A woman hOotin fur help, sez |.
" 1T can't be. No woman would be
! hootin around yere this time of night.
"'Thcn it may be an owl
"'Then yo' may be Il fule.
Her callin me fule r'ilcd me up, "
said Ieb land, though | was purity
sartin that ii was the scream of paint.
or, determined not Ia gin in. Purtv
soon we got il again, aud it was uighcr
the house. The beast was prowlin
around, and that scream made chill
creep up my back.
It's n painter said the ole woman
as she got ont of bed a-lGolsiu purtyI4la.
shoe! It's one of them Davis mals
lest i'll the woods. Reckon she wag out
arter chestnuts and got turned around.
Then yo' don't know sugar from
sand. Listen to that. Does that sound
like the hoot of a woman
Jest exactly. I'll bet my ole gun
ag'in coonslsin that it's Il woman. III
open the doah so she kin see the LIGHT
and then call to her Powerful dark
night for woman to be stUmpin around
in the woods by herself.
'Zeb White, I'm a-tollin yO' it's q
painter, no woman. If yo' wasn't so
farnashun shuckless and low down, yo'd
know it fur yo'rself. If yo' open that |
doah, sumbody's gwine to git clawed |
and bit.
THAT riled Inc sum mo-" said the
old man as he hitched back from the |
fire, land was bound to open that |
doah or bust. could even h ar the |
painter prowlin around; but, yo' sec, | |
wasn't gwine to let the ole woman bluff
me down. 1 riz up and was listenin,
when she sez:
This yere painter is artcr meat fur
Shore
" That yere woman is loolSin fur our
cabin, yo' mean, and ycre goes to let
her in.
Zeb, hain't yo' got no sense in yo'r
head?'
90" Not artcr livin with yo' fur 20
y'ars.
with that crossed over and opened
the back doah, and as did 80 the ole
woman made a dive fur the bed and
kivcred up her head. / had Jest swung
the doah back and opened my mouth to
hoot when sunthin knocked me clean
across the cabin and uttered an awful
scream. 1t was Il sure enough painter
and mighty big one at that. He fust
jumped on the bed and scratched at the
clothes, but rs l got up he turned and
tackled me. Ever hev fout with a
painter"
"No. never did"
"Yo' needn't sigh fur one. They've
got teeth like the biggest kind of a buzz
saw, and thar claws ar like redhot
knife blades. was took SO sudden that
the critter had all the advantage at fust
but bimeby got hold of a stool and
Sorter held my own. He kopt me
rIignty busy, put | saw the ole woman
sittin up i'll bed arter bit and heard
her say:
" 'Zeb White, if that's one of them
Davis gals, then she's owerfully
about since last Sunday. Why
don yo' ask her to take of her bunnit
md stay all night
How did the matter end?" asked,
rs the old man was long time in re-
illing his pipe.
"Waal, finally driv the critter
and got the doah shet, and
hen fell down and tainted away and
lidn't know nuthin mo- for an hour.
lon't rightly remember how many bites
md scratches / got, but was laid up
.or six weeks and had u tough time Of
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