TRACKS AND TRACKING 



him off from the dimes, we were able to drive 

 liim down to tlie edge of the waves, although 

 we always kept at a discreet distance and 

 watched his tail. The animal was evidently 

 enraged by our manoeuvres, and show^ed his 

 displeasure by turning and facing us from 

 time to time and stamping his fore feet on 

 the sand. One of us then walked behind him 

 as he ran along the beach, while the other pre- 

 vented his escaping from the water's edge by 

 walking between him and the dunes. When 

 once started, this triangular procession con- 

 tinued along the beach for about half a mile. 

 At the end of this march, owing to human 

 caprice, the order became single file, with the 

 skunk in the middle, and the extremities of 

 the colunm closing up on the centre. Each 

 of the out-guards endeavored to drive the cen- 

 tre towards the other, but each out-guard was 

 secretly and cowardly prepared to turn and 

 flee, if the centre showed the danger-signal 

 by elevating its tail. The climax was disap- 

 pointing and unsensational, for the skunk, no 

 longer debarred from its haven, the dunes, 

 made off at right angles for this refuge and 

 disappeared, leaving the end-guards discom- 

 fited, but in an atmosphere undefiled. How- 



57 



