Читать книгу Camping in the Winter Woods: Adventures of Two Boys in the Maine Woods онлайн

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No sooner had it struck than Moze was upon it. Then began a fierce battle between dog and coon. Snarling and coughing, they rolled over and over in their struggle, Moze on top one moment, and the coon, which was putting up a valiant fight, uppermost the next.

The battle was waged furiously, and the animals appeared to be about evenly matched. The hunters formed an interested circle about the combatants, until the latter, in their frenzy, rolled between Ed’s feet and brought him down in a heap on top of them. For a moment there was the wildest kind of excitement as Ed frantically endeavored to roll away from the snapping animals. He finally managed to scramble to his feet, and ran nimbly aside, as Ben struck and killed the coon with his club.

Moze came up for inspection under the lantern light. He wagged his tail in triumph, but he looked much the worse for his encounter. He was scratched and torn from the sharp teeth and claws of his late antagonist, but appeared not to mind his wounds. Bill examined him carefully, and said that the few scratches were nothing to what he often got on such expeditions. As the hound seemed willing and eager to continue the hunt, the hunters moved on.