The sun., 1903-03-22

| uuate, vet as IL sounded the fox-squirrel
loosed his hold slightly and came sliding
down the pine, ripping the bark with MS
claws, holding on and hattening hilnseh
! in instinct to the last syllable OF MS re-
corded time
Fifty feet from earth he went stone dead
! and came down straight, not six inches from
! the tree, falling like lump OF lead ne
1 lay still, and little cloud Of bark came
after him and settled on him peacefully
! like a diaphanous mantle.
The Farmer lifted him by the tail and
| hefted him. -,
aHe's a big fellow he said, 'and will
! have 20 be parboiled kill gray squirrels
| only for food. They arc pretty innocent
| little things and not particularly harmful
mind taking down fox-squirrel Tor the
.The fox-squirrel is not a good character.
| He will kill the gray squirrel whenever he
the chance THO 10Y nexer % ras See bTd nests
eating either the eggs or the young; !
knew one to eat up four little mocking birds
| in less than an hour. .
As the Farmer was the only man with rlne
| and the fox squirrels were all In the tallest
| pines, they did not spend much time with
| them. Then the four men plunged into a
| hollow which ran for miles among the hills.
| 1t was three hundred yards across at the
| bottom and through its centre was smaii
| tributary Of Spring Creek
In this hollow the soil was black and the
| trees all Of dark, wet green. Ihe air % %as
dauk and heavy and very stlll. inns
was ground TO which but niue sun ever
came and the light was not much fhoio
You viii find the gray squirrels here
much darker in hue than those which i've
| on the edge Of the plantations, the Farmer
| said.
There are two ways Of hunting the gray
| squirrel in woods. man may walk along
| slowly, keeping his eyes alert Tor the NOV
ing objects. Sometimes they are scurry-
ing along the ground sometimes me- nd .ndy mav a
be discovered by the limbs swaying down
or the noise OF the leape.
The Engineer and the Doctor said that
they would walk, having confidence IN
themselves as wing-shots, and belle wing
that they would find the leaping squirrels
to he easy marks The Journalist elected
to sit, and finding PROSTATE log In qulet
glade settled himself on IT. The fatineI,
who had done shooting enough stayen Win
him . a
twenty yards apart, sauntered up the h0llow.
They could hear the calls OF the squirreis
frequently, but saw none WITHIN hunoiSa Ito
of an oak. travelling head downward az
great speed leaped lightly to the ground
and started to a tree ten yards away In
succession Of long undulating leaps, much
He did not gee the men. He seemed an
admirable target and the Engineer was
rather ashamed Of himself as he threw
the muzzle of his gun in line with 1t and
pulled trigger. The SQUIRE, KEEP. On s a.
accelerated speed ana the lelt parrei was
I'm another moment the squirrel had
leaped TO the trunk OF gum tree and was
lost TO sight among the leaves. In another
two seconds slight crash said tna. ne
crash said that he was still travelling. The
Doctor had not seen the shot for the trunks
intervening and called out cheerfully.
Got two, did you' Give white citizen
He might have saidymore but a branch
thirty wards away and twenty feet, up
swayed as a squirrel sprung TO Il, and ne
caught a glimpse OF the gray body, ne
got another glimpse as the sqmTrei GA GaI'ee se
along the limb toward the trunk, ana ne
fired wildly with the right barrel.
shower OF leaves fell and another shower
was sent int O air by the shot from the left
barrel. The squirrel, frightened by the
discharges, leaped to the ground and
Started Started away, making less speed because
The Doctor hastily slipped in fresh cart,
ridges tore UP the ground ten feet behind
the fleeing gray with ,h Gne Sond eSpre' a1q Tben he
threw the gun down and danced in silent
evaporation. ru,. ,a,,od
Got four. did your the Engineer called
'oTH Them they saw a squirrel spring to a
solitary blackberry that grew In an opening
Taking opposite sides OF this tree they
brought him down in short. order. The
Doctor stood still. while the Engineer
a hush which drove the squirrel to the
Doctors side. They found that they could
shift the squirrels in this manner most of
| the time, and when it failed a dried branch
| hurled into the tree would startie them
| into moving.
A half mile up the hollow where the trees
| vere smaller many OF them not larger than
saplinps, gums and hackberries growing
| so close together that their limbs inter
~ grays The squirrels were all around
| them and they frequently saw a dozen
az once. running or leaping in different
| directions.
ton acre, and the ground under them was
| thickly Uttered with sign. The barkinRs
! and coughings were incessant, the sput,
tering chatter Of the mates sounding on all
/ sides at once
Of sauirrels. and they made one. They
had plenty OF cartridges. and though there
| we're many misses the shooting was easy
II they selected their targets, and so Their
soats began to Eron ir,1sasn,y sYy sn' ,hsy I had
two or three dead on the ground stimuli
lie guns sounded ia rapid succession
and the smoke hung heavily IN the clo-e
/ air under the branches, sf"n,ing u all MIN
th. acrid odor Of burned suncotton. They
found that q squirrel shot AZ when tearing
along a limb OF midway IA aU bctse.h
two tre.s was always al uncertain marx
whereas QUE taken on the ground Mas
reasonably easy once they had l"afn"h
| the trek of shooting them, which ooi.
sistsd simply la depressing ih" sut haitri