Amador ledger. (Jackson, Amador County, Calif.) 1875-19??, 1900-12-28

through me- 'Yo' jest keep right on
coon huntin. and yo'n find a coon soon
er or later. and it'll turn out a mighty
bad find To- yo'.'
Then / knowed she s'pected what
was up to, but as she didn't say nuthin
mo- didn't That night when l went
over to the still felt little skittish.
The old woman's words had kind of
skeered me. Them revenew fellers was
around lookin fur stills, and was liza
BILE to run across 'em in the woods any
time. If they ketched me with a keg
Of mocnshine on my shoulder, it meant
a year In prison fur me fur suah.
When Jim Harper found / was skit-
fish, he says:
If it's got to that pint whar Zeb
White, the celebrated bar killer and
possum hunter of Tennessee, has be-
come afraid of rabbits, then he'd better
stay home of nights and play check
ers'
Then Bill Hope chips in and says it's
wonderful that man who has killed a
wildcat with a club should be afraid of
woodchucks. The other two men
laughed at me and said l was gittin
old and feeble, and, of co'se, the talk
FILED me and made me determined to
go. 1t was about 10 o'clock when /
slung keg Of moonshine on my shout
ders and sot out. 1t wasn't cloudy
night, but man wanted the eyes of a
cat to foller the paths over the hills
and through the bresh. tried to think
1t was all right, but the old woman's
words kept comm back to me, and
felt my knees grow weak as l scuffed
along. / was jest about half way over
the hills and had sot down to rest when
l heard a bar sniffin in the bresh. The
noise he made was a sort of sniff-snuff,
with 'woof' at the end Of it. That's
the way a bar allus does when he
smells man at night.
Look yere, Zeb White says l to
myself as that bar kept comm nearer,
If yo' amt in scrape then I'll eat
my butes. In the darkness and over
these hills yo' can't run fur shucks,
and how yo' gwine to fight bar bare.
handedY
! "Yo' bet l wished l had needed the
old woman, but it was too late then. /
thought the best way was to git up
and go along and give that varmint a
cold bluff, but l was tremblin all over
as l made forward. l tried to whistle,
but my lips was dry as paper | start.
ed to sing, but my own voice skeered
me. was moVin along slow and hop
in the bar would take the bluff when
u run up ag'in sunthin In the darkness
i put out my hand and felt the fur of 8
bar, but l hadn't more'n teched him
when sunthin hit me 'longside the head
and went head over heels down hill
and into the bushes. 1t was as If 8
mule had kicked me on the ear, and
had jest sense huff to wonder how II
would feel when the critter begun tc
tear me to pieces. heard him snuffir
and. snuff1n and movin around, but ht
didn't come to me, and bimeby heard
him movin away.
when went head over heels, LOST
the keg. l didn't stop to look fur II
when the bar moved off, but crawleG
back tosthe path and started off. was
feelin the thankfulest man in T'ennes
see. though my head felt as big as 6
bari, when somebody grabbed me and
flashed a light in my face. True a.
you live, I had run ag'in three reve
acw fellers who was hidin and waitir
fur me.
"'Good evenin, Zeb White said one
Of 'em as they made suah it was me.
The same says L. pullin my
together as hard as l could.
"Out fur leetle walk this even'nt
"T be-
Nice. evenin to walk. Mebbe yo've
bin pickin wild flowers? By the way.
whar's the keg Of moonshineT
II jest blufed 'em right down." said
the old man, with a grim smile. Gas
the keg was gone and they couldn't
tech me. / wasn't afraid to talk. They
threatened and bulldozed, but 1 stuck
to it that was lookup fur coons, and
they dasn't hold me. Bimeby 1 started
fur home. was miRhtzAnarvus about