No;
he can't see very well now, Rover can't."
"He's heavy, too; he's got too unwieldy to tackle a smart coon, I
expect, even if he could do the tall runnin'" said John York, with
sympathy. "They have to get a master grip with their teeth through a
coon's thick pelt this time o' year. No; the young folks get all the
good chances after a while;" and he looked round indulgently at the
chubby faces of his boys, who fed the fire, and rejoiced in being
promoted to the society of their elders on equal terms. "Ain't it time
we heard from the dog?" And they all listened, while the fire snapped
and the sap whistled in some green sticks.
"I hear him," said John Henry suddenly; and faint and far away there
came the sound of a desperate bark. There is a bark that means attack,
and there is a bark that means only foolish excitement.
"They ain't far off!" said Isaac. "My gracious, he's right after him! I
don't know's I expected that poor-looking dog to be so smart. You can't
tell by their looks. Quick as he scented the game up here in the rocks,
off he put. Perhaps it ain't any matter if they ain't stump-tailed,
long's they're yaller dogs. He didn't look heavy enough to me. I tell
you, he means business. Hear that bark!"
"They all bark alike after a coon." John York was as excited as anybody.
"Git the guns laid out to hand, boys; I told you we'd ought to follow!"
he commanded. "If it's the old fellow that belongs here, he may put in
any minute.
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