"Have you ever caught many 'coons?"
"I've cotched high as five 'coons out o' one tree."
"Are there many foxes in this country?"
"Several foxes."
"What's the best way to cook a 'coon?"
"Ketch him and parbile him, and then put him in [241] cold water and soak him, and then put him in and bake him."
"Are there many hounds in this country?"
"Several hounds."
Here, among other discoveries, was a linguistic one—the use of "several" in the sense of a great many, probably an innumerable multitude, as in the case of the 'coons.
They hung around the hotel for hours, as beings utterly exempt from all the obligations and other phenomena of time.