St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-12-03

let any human bein' back me down,
but | was in no shape for 'ussle.
went home with tears of madness in
my eyes, ard the ole woman sees EN-
and seq:
.Zeb. yo' jest hold on to yo'sell .
few days. an yoll be able tc lick dat
critter to squash. It's purt, hard "a
hev such man bluff yo' down, bu:
when yo' git well o. them claw-marks
1t won't take yo' ten minutes to make
him yell fur mercy.
That's the way she talked to me-
said Zeb, "and / sorter quoted down
and made up my mind to wait. The
critter wouldn't let me alone, how
ever. He knowed I was good man
when well, and he wanted 10 git al;
the advantage. One evenin', as sol
smokin' my pipe and bilin' over with
wrath, q monstrous big wildcat cum
prowlin' around the hen house. had
q shot at him from the doah, but he
set up snarlin' and jumped Tito
the bresh fence over thar. Bout this
time along cum the critter from Moth
Keerleeny. He'd bin biowiE' around
up at the Corners how he was cumin'
down yere 10 make me eat SLOW. He
knocks on the dcah and stands up
boldly to say:
"Zeb While, I've got fee.in's, and
20 must respect 'em. I've got to lick
sumbody or bust, and bein' as all the
rest Of the crowd hev took water I'm
dependin' on 20. Cum out yere and
let me paralyze yo'. If yo've got gri:
huff to fight wcodchuck, now's yer
time to show it,
Il was fur gnin' out, bad as I was,
but the ole woman wouldn't hev ii. !
pulls off my shirt 10 show the claw
marks. and axes the critter to gin ne
a few mo- days, but he grins and
laughs and SEE:
~ kin see how it ar. Yo' scratched
yer back agin' a hickory tree in order
to git out of fout with me. They told
me over in Moth Keerleeny that yo'
was man. but | git yere TO find yo' 4
chicken. If l had them scratches on
my back I'd never know it. I fit two
men while / had broken leg and
licked 'em, and fit three bars when
had broken arm and sold their
peits fer five dollars apiece. Zeb White.
cum out on be smashed!'
"Mebbe yo' don't know how it feels
to hev critter talk to yo' that way"
said Zeb, with mournful shake of the
head. II knowed if I was well could
make that ornery buffer chaw grass in
FIVE minits, but wasn't able to fight
a coon. The ole woman tried 70 soothe
me, but was sc mad and heart-broke
that l cried like boy. Bineby the
critter jumps up and down and whoops
and yells at me:
"Zeb White, they SEE 70 could out
fight any man in this yere mounting
befo' vo' went to wah. and that while
yo' was in the wah Gineral Lee reck-
oned yo' as good as hundred men, but
l cant dun believe it. 1t was all blow
and brag. Yo' might hev sSeert san
woman or boy, but yo' never stood ur
to man in yo'r life. I'll 60 5ack Is
the Corners and tell EN- that made
yo' crawl into yo'r butes!'"
THAT was hard lines" I said, as
heard the old man breathing hard over
the memory of it.
But l had to take wuss'n that, sab.
That reptile offered to fight ne WIKI
one hand-then with both hands .ie6
behind him-then with nutnin. oat hia
teeth. He whooped and he yelled; he
roared and he bel.ered: he bluffed and
he clustered. H. hung on till I 4<sld
stand it no longer. and I was goin' out
to do my best when the ole woman seq:
.Zeb, the Lawd j. ON our side! Yo'
Jest wait fur mint or two and sun
thin viii happen. That cat yo' shot at
y tight behind the critter. with her