“Well, you may have seen a coon run, my friends, but believe me when I tell you that you never saw one run as this one did. He gave a bound and away he went, and I went after him, and Mr. Man followed, for I was barking now, for there was reason for it.
“Well, that coon got to the tree first, and up he went, for I saw him, and I can tell you I was some tickled, for I knew that the master would be pleased enough when he saw the size of that coon.
“After he got into the tree I stood under it and looked up and barked with all my might, and Mr. Man was coming a-running as fast as he could in the distance.
“But while I saw that coon go up the tree as plainly as I ever saw anything, I couldn’t see hide nor hair of him when I looked up.
“Mr. Man came up to me after a while and said, ‘Where is he, Rover?’
“I kept looking up in the tree and barking to keep up my courage, though I could see nothing but tree.
“‘You are fooled, old fellow,’ said the master; ‘he got away from you. Go after him, old boy.’
“But I knew I wasn’t fooled, though for the life of me I could not see that coon.
“I kept on barking and jumping about and the master took another look, but he did not see that coon and pretty soon he got tired.
“‘You are a fake, Rover,’ he said to me. ‘I am going home. We will try it another night and see if you can see straight.’ And off he went.