"
"Yes," said Frank, "we've accidentally stumbled upon a regular
'coon-tree. There must be a big family of them living here. The tree
looks as if some one had taken an ax and cleaned off the bark. But,"
he added, "finding where the 'coons have been and catching them are
two very different things."
"What do you mean?" inquired Archie, "You don't pretend to say that
the 'coons are not in the tree?"
"Certainly I do. I wouldn't be afraid to stake Brave against any
little cur in the village that the 'coon the dogs have just followed
here is the only one in the tree."
"What makes you think so?"
"Why, now is their feeding-time, and all the 'coons in this part of
the woods are in the cornfield. It wouldn't pay to cut down this big
tree for one 'coon; so let's go home and go to bed, and early
to-morrow morning we will come back here and bag our game."
The boys agreed to this, and they whistled to their dogs, and started
through the woods toward home.
The next morning, at the first peep of day, they again set out, and in
half an hour arrived at the 'coon-tree.
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