“No use; we can’t keep them,” Bill argued. “We would have to stay at home every day or let them out, and if we let them out, they will eat up our garden and Cousin Hicks will kill them. There are too many rabbits at our shack now.”
So the boys rowed their catch of game ashore. When the boat touched land, the stupid rabbits became lively at once. They hopped out of the boat and, true to their instinct for hiding, disappeared at once; some into a hole and others under a pile of brush.
On their way back the boys, quite excited about this new way of hunting, peeped into a hollow log.
“There’s an animal in it!” exclaimed Tim.
“Look out!” Bill warned him, “maybe it’s a skunk. If you catch a skunk, you can’t go back on the boat.”
“It’s no skunk,” replied Tim. “It’s a gray animal. It’s a coon. Let’s catch him.”
Bill poked the animal with a stick and before he had time to warn his younger brother to look out for the coon’s teeth and claws, Tim had grabbed the creature by the neck, dropped him in the boat and thrown his coat over the snarling animal.
“Look at him,” Tim cried. “Doesn’t he look funny, peeping out from under my coat?”
“My, but he is thin! I bet he is cold and starved. Let us take him to the hunters and give him something to eat.”
“Mr. Barker, what does a coon eat!” Tim shouted as they approached the men. “We’ve caught one.”