The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1897-02-09

Escape and Recognition.
Pretty much everybody in the crowd
had told a story of the gun or dog or
tishpole except printer who looked
about as much like hunter or fisher
man as he did like an angel.
''It's your turn now, Muggins, (" said
the reporter.
II never hunted anything but board
ing houses over in Brooklyn he said,
with wan and lodging kind of air, as
if people threw things at him whenever
he tried to tell a story.
'But before you came here is what
we want to know about" put in sew
eral, land you've either got to tell
story or pay for the drinks every time
anybody else tells one. -
He moved about uneasily and pushed
his chair back from the table, drawing
it close up again Immediately and final
ly resting his hands clasped ON the board
in front of him.
well, gents, he said with the wan
and lodging look still In his eyes, ''let
me think minute. Before came here
] lived in Chicago, where I was hunted
instead of hunting. Before that was
in New Orleans, where only hunted
job. Before that l was in st. Paul,
where was hunting warm place all
the time Before that I lived In Boston,
where it was too frigid to hunt, and be-
fore that, quite long time before that,
l lived in old Kentucky, and, gents, !
did hunt there. Nothing but a coon,
mebbe, or fox or possum or as little
as squirrel or only dove in the dusty
road, but it was finer than anything on
earth.
II was only boy, and perhaps that
had something to do with it, but didn't
know any different then, like / do now,
and it was just the finest on earth and
no mistake And his wan face lighted
up as if he were looking through the
open gates of paradise. 81 recollect l
had dog that was considerable of
hunting dog, but he was an unrestless
kind Of cnss, and when he freed any
thing he would do a lot of barking at
first, but if somebody didn't come
mighty quick he would give it up and
go moseying along after the next thing
in sight. One night l was out with him
after coons, and about o'clock heard
him bark like he was over in q clump
of woods about half mile away. l
knew l was going to have to get to him
pretty quick if found him there at all,
and | started across a field toward the
woods as fast as could go. 1t was
stubble field with sink holes like you
find all over Kentucky in the limestone
parts, and the place was dark, though
the moon was just beginning to show
above the woods. was thinking more
about what the dog had than anything
else, and as l went banging through the
field. all at once 1 seemed to drop off of
the earth and fall into a cellar, and then
l knew l had tumbled into sink hole.
They are never very deep or dangerous,
and l wasn't afraid of being fatally
hurt, but it took the sand out of me
right quick, and went down through
the weeds and stuff, not knowing Just
what had happened. OF course / hadn't
much time to think, and when I hit
bottom / had still less, for instead Of
lighting on the ground or stones or
thicket, l lit on something alive. 1t was
wild animal of some kind, didn't
know what, and was scared till my
hair began to feel funny on my head.
"When went down, went hard,
and kind Of knocked the wind out of
the varmint at first, but in a second it
began to yowl and snap and snarl and to
twist under me and try to get out and
to raise the dickens generally. In the
meantime / was yelling and squawking
and trying to scare the blamed thing,
because I thought it was wildcat, and
| knew boy of my size didn't have
any show with wildcat if the varmint
ever took notion to fight, and knew
pretty we'll that wildcat was about as
sure to take a notion to fight as any
thing on earth. | don't know exactly
what did in that hole or how did it,
but | remember it seemed about month
of Sundays that I was all mussed up in
there with some kind of a wild animal,
and finally the thing got from under me
and scooted as fast as it could for the
top of the sink hole. I followed after it
as quick as could, for 1 became Drawer
when saw it run, and when / got up
on the level the moon had come out,
and l could see the varmint fairly skin
ming it out for the tall timber. / yelled
at it with all my might, though I didn't
run after it very fast, and began to call
my dog. On the second call the varmint
stopped, and I began to get ready to skin
out myself, when 1 got better look,
and, by the great horn spoon, gents, it
was my dog. called him then, and he
came back to me, and could see for
myself that he had holed something
down there in the sink, and his barking
had been smothered and sounded away
off to me, and of course when l dropped
in on him unexpectedly like that he
didn't know anything about it, and nei-
Their did /, and there we was. In any
event, gentlemen, concluded the for
mer Corncracker, "that dog come trot-
ting back to me, and when we met face
to face in the moonlight he sorter look
ed at me, and sorter looked at him,
and don't know which one of us felt
most like apologizing. I do know,
though, we both knocked off for that oc-
casion, and on the way home we took
turn about sneaking along behind each
other, me and the dog. New York
Sun.