Page:The lady or the tiger and other stories, Stockton (Scribner's 1897 ed).djvu/103

Rh o' choppin he know'd how. Ther' aint no smarter critter than 'coons in this whole world. Dogs aint no circumstance to 'em. About four or five year ago, I was a-livin' with Riley Marsh, over by the Court-house; an' his wife she had a tame 'coon, an' this little beast was a mighty lot smarter than any human bein' in the house. Sometimes, when he'd come it a little too heavy with his tricks, they used to chain him up, but he always got loose and come a humpin' inter the house with a bit o' the chain to his collar. D'ye know how a 'coon walks? He never comes straight ahead like a Christian, but he humps up his back, an' he twists roun' his tail, an' he sticks out his head, crooked like, frum under his ha'r, an' he comes inter a room sideways an' a kind o' cross, as ef he'd a-wanted ter stay out an' play an' ye'd made him come in the house ter learn his lessons.

"Well, as I tell ye, this 'coon broke his chain ev'ry time, an' it was a good thick dog-chain, an' that puzzled Biley; but one day he saw the little runt goin' aroun' an' aroun' hoppin' over his chain ev'ry time, till he got an awful big twist on his chain, an' then it was easy enough to strain on it till a link opened. But Riley put a swivel on his chain, an' stopped that fun. But they'd let him out purty often; an' one day he squirmed himself inter the kitchen, an' thar he see the tea-kittle a-settin' by the fireplace. The lid was off, an' ole 'cooney thought that was jist the kind uv a black hole he'd been used to crawlin' inter afore he got tame. So he crawled in an' curled himself up an' went to sleep. Arter a while, in comes Aunt Hannah