The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-21

eff l hear de horn a-blowin' and de dogs
| a-yelpin', but I'm lots too old fer dem
kinder doin's. Let UNI call on Johnny
Bapter. He may not be so mighty know
in, but he's young and soople. But in
uines now gone, mo- speshually when de
i ieus come IN an drv de grays out. 1
khoW'd de feedin' groun. an de prorne-
made of all de foxes fun here ter de river
-eVey one I'm UNI. An mo- dan dat. 1
Know whar one oil red stays right now.
| lie ez big ex cur dog. Folks tried der
level bes' fer ter ketch dat OF fox 10
ue war Dey brung dogs here frum away
OH yam, but he des played wild um He
KIN tell a houn' fun a house dog by de
park, an time he hear one after mid
night he done gone-he done up an gone!
lie got white patch twixt his ewes. an
on count er dat, dey call i'm Scour-Face."
"Scar-Face," Buster John corrected.
Why he's the fox they are going to
catchw
Fountain laughed softly. ooh, dey err
gwine ter ketch i'm? Well, after he's
cotch, hope dey'll show inn ter me.
Scour-Face, er Scyar-Face, 1 wanter see
what dat white mark is 'twixt his eyes"
They are going to bring Birdsong
dogs" explained Buster John.
We'll dey'n halter sing, bird song er
some yuther kinder song fore dey ketch
dat fox"
Besides all the other dogs Joe Max
well is to bring Hodo' remarked Buster
John.
Il hear tell err dat dog" replied Foun-
tain. "Dey say he sho is a mover. But
| shucks! you kin hear dat kinder talk
bout mos any dog. But dish yer Hoodoo
| got ter have brains ez Well as legs eff he
ketch OF Scour-Face. I'm a-talkin' now,
sho."
Where does old Scar-Face stay, Uncle
| Fountain" asked Buster John.
You know dat ar broom-sage fell
right up yam, cross de road fun de gin
| house? Well, he stay right dar. Eff you
| wuz ter go out er door dar an holler right
| loud, he'd hear you, less'n he's prone
nadin' some'rs else. He been dar dis
long time. Dey don't a week pass but
what / sees him slippin' an slidin' long
He moves des like a shadder; once an
awhile he'll stop an look at you, but
| mos er de time it's fwiff! an he done
gone. He got sense same ez folks"
Buster John asked Fountain a great
many questions about Scar-Face, with the
result that he made up his mind to see
the fox himself. His curiosity affected
| Sweetest Susan and she expressed de-
| sire to see old Scar-Face AS for Drusila,
| she didn't care one way or the other. So
| long as there was no bubble and no live
| nightmares around, she was satisfed-at
least, she was not contentious; though
| she predicted now, as she had been doing
| all day long, that the children would
keep on foolin' roun' an gwine whar
dey got no business tell some kind er
! creetur would snap UNI up, an walk off
| wild UNI
! 1t was an easy matter for Buster John
| and Sweetest Susan to say they would
| like to see old Scar-Face, the red fox, but
! how to see him was a very different mat
ter. They might walk through the
"broom-sage'' every day for week, or a
| month, or a year, and never see him; they
might sit in the fence corner and peep be-
tween the rails from sun-up till sun
down, and never catch a glimpse of him.
Old Scar-Face would see them. Oh, yes!
no doubt about that. 1t was his business
| to see without being seen. He began to
! learn that trade when he wasn't bigger
than Buster Johns two fists; and by con-
| slant practice he had developed it into a
| fine art. The shyest and warest birds
| could light within an inch of his nose and
never see him; cold light there. but they
never flew away any more. Old Molly
| Cottontail, all eyes and ears, could sit in
her cozy home, and never know that old
! Scar-Face was in the neighborhood until
| she felt his cruel teeth. And even the
wood rat, whose keen eyes fairly glisten-
| ed with cunning hardly dared to shake a
straw in all that field for fear of being
bounced upon.
Well. then, how could the children hope
| to catch glimpse of this wild and cum
ming creature? Aaron was the one to solve
| the problem for them, and to- Aaron they
went. He tanned the White Pig for them.
! and had made them familiar with the
| Black Stallion-that fierce creature whose
neigh was sufficient to stampede the whole
| plantation. If Aaron could do these
| things, he could also bring them TO Old
Scar Face, the red fox So, to Aaron
they went with many explanations and
pleadings Mention of the old fox caused
| Aaron to reflect a little over the past. He
| had known old Scar-Face when puppy"
a statement that caused the children to
| laugh.
There is war between the reds and grays,
as the Son of Ben Ali explained, war
| that began many years ago over some
| family matter Fox to fox, the reds can
whip the grays, and this fact has become
| so well esta blished that the grays always
get out of the way when they can. 1t
happened one day when Scar-Face was a
puppy" as Aaron said, with big legs
and a very wobbly body, he met big
gray in the woods. Some instinct or other
| caused the red to rush at the gray, and
|
| gray would have run away If he could.
| but Scar-Face caught him by the flank
| and held on like a bull-terrier, while the
gray. frightened and hurt gnawed away
on Scar-Face's head until the top of it
was bare Of hide and hair.
II was then that the Son of Ben Ali
CHANGED to pass, and the gray with a
scream of fear tore away, leaving some of
his pelt between Scar-Fare's teeth. After
some trouble, Aaron explained to the red
| that he was no enemy, having himself
been a hunted animai at one time. He
''doctored" the torn head the best he
could, but the wound left mark, bare
place fringed with white hair.
Aaron was very much interested I'm the
proposed fox hunt. and asked many ques-
lions about it. Finally he promised the
children that, If they would remind him of
ii the next afternoon, he would go with
them to the sedge field and try to find old
Scar-Face He counted on his fingers, ana
made out the age of the red to be nearly
years, and concluded that il the dogs
were good and swift, they ought to be able
l., M, him ioWn In about eight hours