Amador ledger., 1900-07-20

ARE YO NAME ZEB WHlIEg
morrer, but today I've got to go up to
them limestone caves. I had a power
full vishun last night. In my vishun
saw cave, and that cave was chuck
full of coons and possums. can't say
what brung the varmints together. but
thar they was, and thar was 500 Of
EN-
"I don't believe nuthin of. the sortp
says the old woman. 'Yo' are allus
hevin vishuns bout bars and coons
and possums. but nobody ever knowed
yo' to hev a vishun bout chopin wood
or hoein corn
"She was right bout that" said Zeh.
with smile. "but it riled me up jest
the same. answered back purity
briskly. and she got mo- sassy. and so
we had q row. got UP from the table
and took my gun and whistled to the
dawg and started off, and the old wom-
an called out to me that she hoped I'd
be clawed by wildcats. I wasn't yarn
in bout that vishun. was lyin on my
back in bed, eyes wide open, when that
yishun riz up befo' me, and 1 seen
things so clear that fell into a trem-
BILE. Thar was cave full Of coons and
possums, and went in and Stayed 'em
by the hundreds and got huff money
out Of their skins to buy me a mewl I
wanted to fix that leak, of co'se, but it
seemed powerful sin to let that VI
shun 60 by. hadn't got more'n half
a mile from the house when the dawg
begun to hang back. The critter allus
'peared to take the old womah's side
whenever we had a row. When 1 no.
ticed him hangin back, yelled out at
him and grabbed up q club, but he
went out Of sight like a rabbit 1
wanted that dawg to hold the mouth
of the cave while went in and slaugh-
tered the varmints, and jest made up
my mind to kill him when 1 got home.
Thar was three caves, and it was six
mile trip. The middle cave was the
biggest, and when I reached it 1 looked
all around fur tracks. Not one was to
be found, but that didn't discourage
me. peered around fur spell and
then went in. 1t was a narrer openin,
and the cave was dark, but 1 had
brung along taller candle. l lighted
the candle and begun to look about me.
"Dod rot 1t, but what fule a man
kin make Of himself when he triesw
exclaimed the old man after a pause.
Anybody Of sense knows that coons and
possums don't go hangin around caves.
That vishun was tarnashun lie. That
cave was as big as half an acre. and I
walked all over it and found nuthin.
I was mad and kickin myself when 1
started to 60 out, but 1 hadn't gone
fur when the roof Of the cave 'peared
to fall down upon me. Mebbe it was
half an hour later when l opened my
eyes and found myself on my back,
and 1t seemed as If one side of my
head had bin caved in. 1 found my
rife with the stock broken, and 1
could smell bar all around. 1t didn't
take me long to f1gger out that bar
had follered me into the cave and
fetched me whack 'longside the head.
In mint heard him snifin and NOV
in around outside the cave, and as I
crawled along found him on guard.
He was lyin down fair in the way, and
I was his prisoner. If my rife had bin
all right, could hev got rid of him in
short order, but it couldn't be fred.
"As the bar heard me movin up he
showed his teeth and growled in a way
to make my h'ar stand up. He didn't
come IN after me, but 1t was plain
'nuf that he wasn't goin to let me out.
I thought it was best to keep still fur
awhile and see if he wouldn't go away,
and, d'yo know, sub, to the best Of my
belief that critter went right to sleep.
] couldn't git out without steppin over
him, and 1t was too risky to try that.
fkept quiet fur two hours. and he ney-
er moved. Then 1 flung stone at
him, and he woke up and growled till
/ had chill.
''Mebbe yo'lI say I orter hev taken
comfort in that cave, but when I found
the afternoon wearin away and the
bar hangin on I was mighty miserable
over 1t. The bars of Tennessee owed
me a powerful grudge> fur the way
bad slaughtered them, and who was
to tell what this critter proposed to do?
He could finish me off any time he
Gaptad TO- hut. he ,psarad to be playip