bs,
followed by the man and the negro. But before they could wink their
eyes, something tall and white walked out, and cried:--

"'_You are always after me!_'

"The negro threw down the torch and the axe, and ran home as fast as
he could. The dogs tried hard to catch the white thing, whatever it
was, but as soon as they got near enough to bite it, they tucked their
tails between their legs and ran howling back to their master.

"This happened every time the man went out to hunt raccoons and
'possums. The dogs would strike a warm trail not far from the house,
run to the edge of the swamp, and bay up a tree, and then when the
tree was cut down, something tall and white would walk from the top
limbs, and cry out:

"'_You are always after me!_'

"The man thought it was very queer, but he wasn't frightened. He said
to himself that if he couldn't catch raccoons and 'possums, maybe he
could catch a fox. So he called up his dogs one morning just about
day, mounted his horse, and started out to catch a fox. Before they
had gone a hundred yards from the house, the dogs found a warm trail
and began to follow it in lively style. The man spurred his horse
after them and harked them on. They ran around in a wide circle, and
presently something white flitted by the man, with the dogs after it
in full cry. As it went by it screamed out:--

"'_You are always after me!_'

"Then it disappeared, and after a while the dogs came back, panting as
hard as if they had run forty miles. The man went back home and sat by
the fire and studied about it, and the more he studied the worse he
was troubled. He sat so long without saying anything that his little
boy asked him what the matter was, but the man shook his head, and
said there were some things that children ought not to know. The boy
was fourteen years old, and very small for his age, but he had plenty
of sense, and was very brave. He told his mother that his father was
in some deep trouble, and begged her to find out what it was, and tell
him about it.

"So the little boy's mother set herself to work to find out what was
troubling her husband. She pressed him so hard with questions that he
finally told her about his strange adventures while out hunting. The
wife was so frightened that she begged her husband not to go hunting
any more, but to give up his dogs and attend to business that was not
so dangerous.

"The man promised that he would hunt no more raccoons or 'possums or
fo