that was known to be engaged in nefarious praetices; and, moreover, was "shocking fat;" and therefore, upon the whole, Carey considered him as a lawful subject of chase.

To this sagacious perpending of the question, and to the conclusion which the veteran had arrived at, Ned could oppose no valid objection. He, therefore, replied that he was entirely convinced that he, Carey, had taken a correct view of the subject; and that if Mr. Riggs and Mr. Littleton could be prevailed upon to lend a hand, nothing would be more agreeable than the proposed enterprise.

We were unanimous on the proposition. Harvey agreed to defer his return to the Brakes until the next morning; and it was arranged, that we should be apprised by Carey when the proper hour came round to set out on the expedition. Carey then detailed the mode of proceeding: A watch was to be set near the hen-roost, the dogs were to be kept out of the way, lest they might steal upon the enemy unawares, and destroy him without a chase; notice was to be given of his approach; and one or two of those on the watch were to frighten him away; and after allowing him time enough to get back to the woods, the dogs were to be put upon the trail, and to pursue him until he was treed.

Having announced this, the old servant bowed again and left the room, saying, that it would be pretty late before we should be called out, because it was natural to these thieving animals to wait until people went to bed; and that a 'possum was one of the cunningest things alive.

Midnight arrived without a summons from our leader; the family had long since retired to rest; and we began to fear that our vigil was to end in disappointment. We had taken possession of the settees in the hall, and had almost dropped asleep, when, about half-past twelve, Carey came tiptoeing through the back door, and told us, in a mysterious whisper, that the depredator of the poultry-yard had just been detected in his visit: that big Ben (for so one of the negroes was denominated, to distinguish him from little Ben,) had been out and saw the animal skulking close under the fence in the neighbourhood of the roost. Upon this intelligence, we rose and followed the old domestic to the designated spot.

Here were assembled six or seven of the negroes, men and boys, who were clustered into a group at a short distance from the poultry-yard. Within a hundred paces the tall figure of big Ben was discerned, in dim outline, proceeding cautiously across a field until he had receded beyond our view. A nocturnal adventure is always attended with a certain show of mystery; the presence of darkness conjures up in every mind an in

definite sense of fear, faint, but still sufficient to throw an interest around trivial things, to which we are strangers in the daytime. The little assemby of blacks that we had just joined were waiting in noiseless reserve for some report from Ben; and, upon our arrival, were expressing in low and wary whispers, their conjectures as to the course the game had taken, or recounting their separate experience as to the habits of the animal. It was a cloudless night; and the obscure and capacious vault above us showed its thousands of stars, with a brilliancy unusual at this season. A chilling breeze swept through the darkness, and fluttered the neighbouring foliage with an alternately increasing and falling murmur. Some of the youngest negroes stood barcheaded, with no clothing but coarse shirts and trousers, shivering amongst the crowd; and, every now and then, breaking out into exclamations, in a pitch of voice that called down the reproof of their elders. Ned commanded all to be silent and to seat themselves upon the ground; and while we remained in this position, Ben reappeared and came directly up to the circle. He reported that he had detected the object of our quest near at hand; and had followed him through the weeds and stubble of the adjoining field until he had seen him take a course, which rendered it certain that he had been sufficiently alarmed by the rencounter to induce him to retire to the gum. It was, therefore, Ben's advice that Ned, Harvey, and myself should take Carey as a guide, and get, as fast as we could, to the neigh bourhood of the tree spoken of, in order that we might be sure to see the capture; and that he would remain behind, where, after a delay long enough to allow us to reach our destination, he would put the dogs, which were now locked up in the stable, upon the trail; and then come on as rapidly as they were able to follow the scent.

Ben had the reputation of being an oracle in matters of woodcraft; and his counsel was, therefore, implicitly adopted. Carey assured us that "there was no mistake in him," and that we might count upon arriving at the appointed place, with the utmost precision, under his piloting. We accordingly set forward. For nearly a mile we had to travel through weeds and bushes; and having safely accomplished this, we penetrated into a piece of swampy woodland that lay upon the bank of the river. Our way was sufficiently perplexed; and, notwithstanding Carey's exorbitant boasting of his thorough knowledge of the ground, we did not reach the term of our march without some awkward mistakes, such as taking ditches for fallen trees, and blackberry bushes for smooth ground. Although the stars did their best to afford us light, the thickness of the wood into which we had advanced wrapt

us, at times, in impenetrable gloom. During this progress we were once stopped by Harvey calling out, from some twenty paces in the rear, that it was quite indispensable to the success of the expedition, so far as he was concerned, that Carey should correct a topographical error, into which he, Mr. Riggs, found himself very unexpectedly plunged: "I have this moment," said he, "been seized by the throat by a most rascally grapevine; and in my sincere desire to get out of its way, I find that another of the same tribe has hooked me below the shoulders: meantime, my hat has been snatched from my head; and, in these circumstances, gentlemen, perhaps it is not proper for me to budge a foot."

Nothwithstanding these embarrassments, we at last reached the gum-tree, and 'halting in his shade,' if the tree could be said to be proprietor of any part of this universal commodity, patiently awaited the events that were upon the wing. The heavy falling dew had shed a dampness through the air, that had almost stiffened our limbs with cold. It was necessary that we should remain silent; and, indeed, the momentary expectation of hearing our followers advance upon our footsteps fixed us in a mute and earnest suspense. This feeling absorbed all other emotions for a time; when, finding that they were not yet afoot, we began to look round upon the scene, and note the novel impressions it made upon our senses. The wood might be said to be vocal with a thousand unearthly sounds; for the wakeful beings of midnight, that inhabit every spray and branch of the forest, are endued with voices of the harshest discord. The grove, that in daylight is resonant with melody, is now converted into a sombre theatre of gibbering reptiles, screeching insects, and night-birds of melancholy and grating cries. The concert is not loud, but incessant, and invades the ear with fiendish notes; it arouses thoughts that make it unpleasant to be alone. Through the trees the murky surface of the river was discernible, by the flickering reflections of the stars, with darkness brooding over the near perspective; in the bosom of this heavy shadow, a lonely taper shot its feeble ray from the cabin window of some craft at anchor; and this was reflected, in a long, sharp line, upon the water below it. The fretful beat of the waves was heard almost at our feet; and the sullen plash of a fish, springing after his prey, occasionally reached us with strange precision. Around us, the frequent crash of rotten boughs, breaking under the stealthy footsteps of the marauder of the wood that now roamed for booty, arrested our attention, and deceived us with the thought that the special object of our search was momentarily approaching.

Still, however, no actual sign was yet given

us that our huntsmen were on their way. Harvey grew impatient, and took our old guide to task for having mistaken his course; but Carey insisted that he was right, and that this delay arose only from Ben's wary caution to make sure of his game. length, a deep-toned and distant howl reached us from the direction of the house. Big Ben's awake now," said Carey; "that's Cæsar's voice, and he never speaks without telling truth."

66

At

We were all attention; and the tongueing of this dog was followed by the quick yelping of four or five others. Ned directed Carey to seat himself at the foot of the gum-tree, in order that he might prevent the opossum from retreating into the hollow; and then suggested that we should conceal ourselves under the neighbouring bank.

By this time, the cries of the dogs were redoubled, and indicated the certainty of their having fallen upon the track of their prey. Carey took his seat, with his back against the opening of the hollow, and we retired to the bank, under the shelter of some large and crooked roots of a sycamore that spread its bulk above the water. Whilst in this retreat, the halloos of Ben and his assistants, encouraging the dogs, became distinctly audible, and gradually grew stronger upon our hearing. Every moment the animation of the scene increased; the clamour grew musical as it swelled upon the wind; and we listened with a pleasure that one would scarce imagine could be felt under such circumstances, instantly expecting the approach of our companions. It was impossible longer to remain inactive; and, with one impulse, we sprang from our hidingplace, and hurried to the spot where we had left old Carey stationed as a sentinel at the door of the devoted quadruped's home. At this moment, as if through the influence of a spell, every dog was suddenly hushed into profound silence.

"They have lost their way," said Ned, “or else the animal has taken to the brook and confounded the dogs. Is it not possible, Carey, that he has been driven into a tree nearer home?"

"Never mind!" replied Carey," that 'pos sum's down here in some of these bushes watching us. Bless you! if the dogs had treed him, you would hear them almost crazy with howling These 'possums never stay to take a chase, because they are the sorriest things in life to get along on level ground; -they sort of hobble; and that's the reason they always take off,-as soon as they see a body, to their own homes. You trust big Ben; he knows what he's about."

The chase in an instant opened afresh, and it was manifest that the pursuers were making rapidly for the spot on which we stood. Carey begged us to get back to our

former concealment; but the request was vain. The excitement kept us on foot, and it was with difficulty we could be restrained from rushing forward to meet the advancing pack. Instead, however, of coming down to the gum-tree, the dogs suddenly took a turn, and sped, with the utmost rapidity, in a contrary direction, rending the air with a clamour that far exceeded anything we had yet heard. "We have lost our chance !" cried Harvey. "Here have we been shivering in the cold for an hour to no purpose. What devil tempted us to leave Ben? Shall we follow?"

"Pshaw, master Harvey!" exclaimed the old negro; "don't you know better than that? It's only some varmint the dogs have got up in the woods. When you hear such a desperate barking, and such hard running as that, you may depend the dogs have hit upon a grey fox, or something of that sort, that can give them a run. No 'possum there! Big Ben isn't a-going to let Cæsar sarve him that fashion!"

Ben's voice was heard, at this period, calling back the dogs and reproving them for going astray; and, having succeeded in a few minutes in bringing them upon their former scent, the whole troop were heard breaking through the undergrowth, in a direction leading immediately to the tree.

"Didn't I tell you so, young masters!" exclaimed Carey.

"There he is! there he is!" shouted Ned. "Look out, Carey! Guard the hole! He has passed. Well done, old fellow! I

think we have him now."

This quick outcry was occasioned by the actual apparition of the opossum, almost at the old man's feet. The little animal had been lying close at hand; and alarmed at the din of the approaching war, had made an effort to secure his retreat. He came creeping slily towards the tree; but, finding his passage intercepted, had glided noiselessly by, and in a moment, the moving and misty object that we had obscurely discerned speeding with an awkward motion through the grass, was lost to view. A few seconds only elapsed, and the dogs swept past us with the fleetness of the wind. They did not run many paces, before they halted at the root of a large chestnut that threw its aged and ponderous branches over an extensive surface, and whose distant extremities almost drooped back to the earth. Here they assembled, an eager and obstreperous pack, bounding wildly from place to place, and looking up and howl-. ing, with an expressive gesture, that may be seen in this race of animals, when they are said to be baying the moon.

This troop of dogs presented a motley assortment. There were two, conspicuous for their size, and apparently leaders of the company, a mixture of hound and mastiff,

that poured out their long, deep, and buglelike tones, with a fullness that was echoed back from the farther shore of the river, and which rang through the forest with the strength that must have awakened the sleepers at the mansion we bad left. Several other dogs of inferior proportions, even down to the cross and peevish terrier of the kitchen, yelped with every variety of note,— sharp, quick, and piercing to the ear. This collection was gathered from the negro families of the plantation; and they were all familiar with the discipline of the wild and disorderly game in which they were engaged. A distinguished actor in this scene was our old friend Wilful, who, true to all his master's pranks, appeared in the crowd with officious self-importance, bounding violently above the rest, barking with an unnecessary zeal, and demeaning himself, in all respects, like a gentlemanly, conceited, pragmatical, and good-natured spaniel. This canine rabble surrounded the tree, and, with vain efforts, attempted to scale the trunk, or started towards, the outer circumference, and jumped upwards. with an earnestness that showed that their sharp sight had detected their fugitive aloft.

In this scene of clamour and spirited assault, Ben and our old groom were the very masters of the storm. They were to be seen everywhere, exhorting, cheering, and commanding their howling subordinates, and filling up the din with their no less persevering and unmeasured screams.

"Speak to him, Cæsar!" shouted Carey in a prolonged hoarse tone,-"Speak to him, old fellow!-That's a beauty!"

"Howl, Boson ?" roared Ben, to another of the dogs. "Whoop! whoop! let him have it!-sing out!-keep it up, Flower!"

"Wilful! you rascal," cried Ned. "Mannerly, keep quiet; would you jump out of your skin, old dog?-quiet, until you can do some good."

A rustling noise was heard in some of the higher branches of the tree, and we became advised that our besieged enemy was betaking himself to the most probable place of safety. The moon, in her last quarter, was seen at this moment, just peering above the screen of forest that skirted the eastern horizon; and a dim ray was beginning to relieve the darkness of the night. This aid came opportunely for our purpose, as it brought the top of the chestnut in distinct relief upon the faintly illuminated sky. The motion of the upper leaves betrayed to Ben the position of the prey; and, in an instant, he swung himself up to the first bough, and proceeded urgently upward. "I see the varmint here in the crotch of one of the tiptop branches!" he exclaimed to us, as he hurried onward. "Look out below!"

The terrified animal, on finding his pur.

suer about to invade his place of safety, speedily abandoned it; and we could distinctly hear him making his way to the remote extremity of the limb. As soon as he had gained this point, he became visible to us all, clinging like an excrescence that had grown to the slender twigs that sustained him. Ben followed as near as he durst venture with his heavy bulk, and began to whip the bough up and down, with a vehement motion that flung the animal about through the air like a ball on the end of a supple rod. Still, however, the way-laid freebooter kept his hold with a desperate tenacity.

During this operation the dogs, as if engrossed with the contemplation of the success of the experiment, had ceased their din, and, at intervals only, whined with impatience.

"He can never stand that," said Harvey, as if involuntarily speaking his thoughts. "Look out! he is falling. No, he has saved himself again!"

Instead of coming to the ground, the dexterous animal, when forced at last to abandon the limb, only dropped to a lower elevation, where he caught himself again amongst the foliage, in a position apparently more secure than the first. The dogs sprang forward, as if expecting to receive him on the earth; and, with the motion, uttered one loud and simultaneous ery:-Their disappointment was evinced in an eager and impressive silence. The negroes set up a shout of laughter; and one of them ejaculated, with an uncontrolled merriment,

"Not going to get 'possum from top of tree at one jump, I know. He come down stairs presently. Terrible varmint for grabbing!-his tail as good as his hand,-Oh, oh !"

Ben now called out to know how far he had dropped; and, being informed, was immediately busy in the endeavour to reach the quarter indicated.

A repetition of the same stratagem that had been employed above, produced the same result; and the badgered outlaw descended still lower, making good his lodgment with a grasp instinctively unerring, but now rendered more sure by the frightful death that threatened him below. This brought him within fifteen feet of the jaws of his ruthless enemies.

The frantic howl, screech, and halloo that burst from dog, man, and boy, when the object of their pursuit thus became distinctly visible, and their continued reduplications, breaking upon the air with a wild, romantic fury, were echoed through the lonely forest at this unwonted hour, like some diabolical incantation, or mystic rite of fantastic import, as they have been sometimes fancied in the world of fiction, to picture the orgies of a grotesque superstition. The whole pack of

dogs was concentrated upon one spot, with heads erect and open mouths, awaiting the inevitable descent of their victim into the midst of their array.

Ben, indefatigable in his aim, had already arrived at the junction of the main branch of the tree with the trunk; and there united in the general uproar. Hazard now interposed, and commanded silence; and then directed the people to secure the dogs, as his object was to take the game alive. This order was obeyed, but not without great difficulty; and, after a short delay, every dog was fast in hand. We took time, at this juncture, to pause. At Ned's suggestion, Wilful was lifted up by one of the negroes, with the assistance of Ben, to the first bough, which being stout enough to give the dog, practised in such exploits, a foothold, though not the most secure, he was here encouraged, at this perilous elevation, to renew the assault. Wilful crept warily upon his breast, squatting close to the limb, until he reached that point where it began to arch downward, and from whence it was no longer possible for him to creep farther. During this endeavour he remained mute, as if devoting all his attention to the safe accomplishment of his purpose; but as soon as he gained the point abovementioned, he recommenced barking with unwearied earnestness. The opossum began now to prepare himself for his last desperate effort. An active enemy in his rear had cut off his retreat, and his further advance was impossible, without plunging into the grasp of his assailants. As if unwilling to meet the irrevocable doom, and anxious to linger out the brief remnant of his minutes, even in agony, showing how acceptable is life in its most wretched category,-the devoted quad. ruped still refused the horrid leap; but, releasing his fore feet, swung downwards from the bough, holding fast by his hind legs and tail, the latter being endued with a strong contractile power and ordinarily used in this action. Here he exhibited the first signs of pugnacity; ard now snapped and snarled towards the crowd below, showing his long array of sharp teeth, with a fierceness that contrasted singularly with the cowering timidity of his previous behaviour. In one instant more, Wilful, as if no longer able to restrain his impatience, or perhaps desirous to signalize himself by a feat of bravery, made one spring forward into the midst of the foliage that hung around his prey, and came to the ground, bringing with him the baffled subject of all this eager pursuit.

Ned seized Wilful in the same moment that he reached the earth; and thus prevented him from inflicting a wound upon his captive. The opossum, instead of essaying a fruitless effort to escape, lay upon the turf, to all appearance, dead. One or two of those who stood around struck him with their

feet; but, faithful to the wonderful instinct of his nature, he gave no signs of animation; and when Hazard picked him up by the tail, and held him suspended at arm's length, with the dogs baying around him, the counterfeit of death was still preserved.

More with a view to exhibit the peculiarities of the animal than to prolong the sport, Hazard flung him upon the ground, and directed us to observe his motions. For

a few moments he lay as quiet as if his last work had been done; and then slowly and warily turning his head round, as if to watch his captors, he began to creep, at a snail's pace, in a direction of safety: but no sooner was pursuit threatened, or a cry raised, than he fell back into the same supine and deceitful resemblance of a lifeless body.

He was at length taken up by Ben, who, causing him to grasp a short stick with the end of his tail, (according to a common instinct of this animal,) threw him over his shoulders, and prepared to return homeward.

It was now near three o'clock; and we speedily betook ourselves to the mansion, fatigued with the exploits of the night.

"After all," said Harvey Riggs, as he lit a candle in the hall, preparatory to a retreat to his chamber, "we have had a great deal of toil to very little purpose. It is a savage pleasure to torture a little animal with such an array of terrors, merely because he makes his livelihood by hunting. God help us, Ned, if we were to be punished for such pranks!"

"To tell the truth," replied Ned, "I had some such misgivings myself to-night, and that's the reason I determined to take our captive alive. To-morrow I shall have him set at liberty again: and I think it probable he will profit by the lesson he has had, to avoid molesting the poultry-yard.

WOMEN OF GENIUS.
BY ANN S. STEPHENS.
"What is genius but deep feeling,
Wakening to glorious revealing!
But what is feeling but to be

Alive to every misery ?"-L. E. L.

"I REVERE talent in any form," said a young friend in conversation, the other evening, "but in selecting a wife, I should never think of choosing a woman of genius!"

"And why not?" I inquired, expecting to hear him advance the usual list of objections to literary women-their want of domestic habits-eccentricities, carelessness of fashion, and the thousand unjust charges urged against a class of women as little understood as any upon the face of the earth. My friend was a man of no inconsiderable talent, and from him the sentiment scemed strange and ungenerous. It was probably the first time

that he had ever been called upon to think seriously upon the subject. He seemed puzzled how to make a fitting reply.

Why," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "my beau ideal is somewhat like that of Byron's. My wife should have talent enough to be able to understand and value mine, but not sufficient to be able to shine herself. I could never love a woman who was entirely occupied with literature. I want feeling, affection, devotion to myself— a domestic woman who would think my approbation sufficient for her happiness, and would have no desire for greater admiration. I could never be happy with an ambitious

woman."

On my return home, the injustice of my friend's speech haunted me. He wanted feeling, affection, domestic qualities in a wife, and, therefore, would not seek one in a woman of genius. Byron's beau ideal was as purely a creature of the imagination as his Haidee or Zuleika. He seems to have forgotten that to understand and value talent, is one of the highest attributes of genius; that no person ever thoroughly appreciated a feeling or a property of the intellect which she did not possess in a degree, at least. A leas selfish man, instead of requiring mediocrity and a worshipper in the place of a companion, would only have wished that the beautiful delicacy which nature has implanted in the female mind to chasten and refine her genius, should be preserved, and that in her pursuits and feelings she should be womanly and true to her sex.

Pen and paper lay convenient, and, in fancy, I went on discoursing and putting questions, as if the culprit had been present in person.

Have you been thoroughly acquainted with a woman of undoubted genius-one who stands high in any department of our literature? Have you been domesticated with one-seen her at all seasons-entered into the sanctuary of her thoughts? have you been the brother, husband, father, or even friend of one?

You say no, and yet, without knowledge, decide that they are not fit objects of domestic affection; that because certain uncommon powers are granted to them by the Most High for his own good purposes, the common attributes which form the loveliness and beauty of womanhood are withheld, You would hedge them round with respect and reverence, and yet fear to give them the affection which is to none more precious, by none more thirsted for, or more keenly ap preciated. You would smother the spark which must kindle all that is worthy of love in the genius of woman. You would build to her an altar of marble, cold as the grave, and bow down your intellect before it in the homage which mind renders to mind, with