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162 camp, there were exclamations of another sort. On the shoulders of the first sat demurely, what Thompson at first took for a fox, then for a wildcat, with a sharp face strongly marked with black stripes, then for a kind of ring-tailed monkey, but which proved to be, what he had nev er before seen, a young raccoon. Jones had espied it perched in the fork of a small persimmon tree, looking very dis consolately on the sea of ashes and cin ders around, some of which still smoked, and seemed to keep the poor brute in mortal fear. On being approached, it made no attempt to escape, and otfered no resistanco to capture, but seemed to hail with trustful delight the approach of deliverance. A few leaves of the bear grass, (silk grass) were woven, as they walked, into both collar and cord, by which it was for the time made secure. Some of the men thought it was a shame that Jones did not give to Wild cat the pet which seemed so much better suited to a boy than a man. But when one of them was preparing to express himself to this effect, there appeared a mysterious commotion in Wildcat’s pouch, (occupying a place, like a High lander’s, over the pit of the stomach,) which caused him to press his hand has tily there, saying as he did so : “ Wy-gus-chay!” (the Muscogee for “quit that!”) Then turning to Thompson a face that seemed to be writhing with pain and pleading for sympathy, he exclaimed with a terrible groan, “ Oh! he bite! I feel him gnaw!” The Irishman began to be seriously concerned for his dusky friend, and was about to call Dr. Gordon, when the art ful boy, satisfied with this exhibition of his powers of acting, threw off from his countenance the mask of pain, and burst ing into a laugh at the success of his joke, so well suited to a young savage, he added : “He bite! he gnaw! but he don’t hurt!” then putting his hand into the pouch, he drew thence a beautiful squir rell, nearly half grown, which he pro ceeded to place upon his shoulder, and to supply with a piece of cracked hickory nut. The graceful little thing, after one start of surprise, and a quick dash under the fold of the buckskin hunting shirt, to hide itself from the unexpected crowd, took its place with a perfectly home-like air upon Wildcat’s shoulder, curled its tail upon its back, in the shape of the let ter S, and proceeded composedly to eat its nut. While thus engaged, Magruder, who had been absent, came from the beach BXJRKE’S WEEKLY. and joined the company, when there be gan to be another commotion in the pouch, another pressing of the hand up on it, and other exclamations, and writh ings as before, with the eyes turned now towards the new comer, but the Scotch man was too wary to be caught by such appearances. He merely smiled a grim acknowledgement of having detected the snare, and then Wildcat, inserting his hand into the pouch, drew out another squirrel, the mate of the first, and placed it with a piece of nut upon the other shoulder. Upon enquiry by some of the admiring lookers-on, it was ascertained that soon after the capture of the Coon, the squir rels were discovered by Wildcat on a small tree, from which they evidently wished to escape, but dared not, on ac count of the terrible-looking bed of ashes. The two explorers went to the tree, and standing one on each side, held out their hands in an inviting way, saying, in soft, encouraging tones, “ Bunny ! Bunny ! Petty! Petty!” when the little trustful things, seeming to understand the lan guage of tone and gesture, actually came down the tree, smelt of the extended hands, and allowed themselves to be ta ken* and placed in Wildcat’s pouch. As soon as their thirst was relieved, for they are largo drinkers, and seemed to have suffered much for the want of water, they were supplied with a handful of sweet acorns from the live oak, poured into the pouch, after eating which at their leisure each rolled itself into a ball and slept un til the captors returned to camp. It may be as well stated here as else where that both these varieties of pets became great favorites with the men and fi iends to each other. The squirrels en joyed the full freedom of the barge and would chase each other up and down the rigging, and from shoulder to shoulder of the men, and dive into their pockets after nuts and other eatables. The raccoon, being naturally of a more staid and dig nified demeanor, was at first annoyed at having the little frolicsome squirrels leap upon its back and clamber on its head, and showed some signs of displeasure, bat it also soon became reconciled, like a good philosopher, to what it could not help, and finally began to toy with its lit tle companions in return. It soon learn ed the way both to the supply of crack ers and ship bread, and to the water can, and, according to its peculiar habits’ would always soak its dry food in water * This is not a mere sketch from fancy. The writer witnessed a similar scene only a few days before this par agraph was written. before eating* Nobody’s pocket, and no box nor little hole where any thiim could bo kept, was safe from the sly i n t ril . sion of its paws. On leaving their fire-marked and thirs ty island, the boat’s crew made directly for the main, and they had not sailed many hours along its beach before the now raging thirst of the men was al layed by a large supply of the sweetest and coolest water they had found since leaving Tampa. Ah, how delicious is good water! We, who live in this land of fountains and of rivers, can no more ap preciate it than most people appreciate the blessed light of the sun and the free breath of heaven. None but asthmatics can properly estimate the last, and none but the temporarily blind the first. Yet Solomon knew how to value good water. With all his wisdom and his wealth, he must, some time or other, have been thirsty, or he could not have penned the words : “As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.”-)- The man who wrote that must have drawn his picture from experience. We almost partake the enjoyment of the roy al writer as he lifts to his eager lips a jew elled cup, filled with water from David’s well at* Bethlehem, and dewy with cold from the snows of Herman. Nothing more of special interest oc curred till late in the day. The key, in side of which they were then passing, stretched its low sandy barrier so far southward, that Dr. Gordon was appre hensive lest the missing boat might pass them unobserved upon the Gulf side. He, therefore, requested that someone might be sent to the western beach to re connoitre ; and Wheeler, who was re garded by all as being peculiarly fitted for duties of this sort, on account of his quick parts and keen observation, was detailed for the purpose. He was gone much longer than was expected, and though ho could be occasionally 7 ' seen as cending some wind-raised hillock of sand, and directing his spy-glass down the coast, the only answer he gave to the sig nal of enquiry made from the barge, was a wave of the hand, signalling in return that the barge should pass slowly down the inside beach. For a time the hearts of all beat high with hope that ho had spied the lost *lt is this peculiarity which caused the raccoon to bo known by naturalists as Lotor, or washer, Ursus Lotor, for it was classed by Linneus in the general family o bears, on account of its carnivorous and frugivorous habits, and its plantigrade foot, which means its habit o walking flat-footed. tProv. 25 : 25. til. Samuel, 23: 15.