Cudjo how this could be
accomplished, when I saw that my float went suddenly down, and I felt a
pull upon the line. I thought, of course, it was a fish, and commenced
handling it; but, to my surprise, on bringing it to the surface, I
perceived that I had hooked one of the turtles, and no doubt the same
one which had looked up at us but a moment before. He was not a very
large one; and we soon landed him; when Cudjo secured him simply by
turning him over upon his back. As I learnt from Cudjo, these creatures
will eagerly bite at anything that may be thrown into the water and
appears strange to them. Of the truth of this we had a curious
demonstration shortly afterwards.

"In a few minutes more, each of us had taken several good-sized fish;
and we still continued watching our rods in silence, when our attention
was attracted to the movements of an animal upon the opposite bank, and
about one hundred yards below where we sat. We were all well acquainted
with this animal; and Harry, the moment he saw it, whispered,--

"`Look, papa! mamma! a 'coon!'

"Yes, it was a raccoon. There was no mistaking the broad dark-brown
back, the sharp fox-looking face and snout, and the long bushy tail,
with its alternate rings of black and yellowish white. The short thick
legs, the erect ears, and the white and black marks of the face, were
familiar to all of us--for the raccoon is one of the best-known animals
in America, and we had it among our pets.

"At the sight of the `'coon,' Cudjo's eyes fairly glistened--for there
is no animal that affords so much sport to the negroes of the United
States as the 'coon; and he is, therefore, to them as interesting a
creature as the fox to the red-coated hunters of England. Hunting the
raccoon is one of the principal amusements which the poor slave enjoys,
in the beautiful moonlight nights of the Southern States, after he has
got free from his hard toil. By them, too, the flesh of the 'coon is
eaten, although it is not esteemed much of a dainty. The 'possum is
held in far higher estimation. Cudjo's eyes then glistened as soon as
he set them upon his old and familiar victim.

"The 'coon all this while had seen none of us, else he would soon have
widened the distance between us and himself. He was crawling cautiously
along the bank of the creek, now hopping up on a log, and now stopping
for a while, and looking earnestly into the water.

"`De ole 'coon go to fish,' whispered Cudjo; `da