128 SQUIRRELS AND OTHER FUR-BEARERS 



was diverted, the dog would rush in ; then one 

 of us would attempt to seize the coon's tail, but 

 he faced about so quickly, his black eyes gleam- 

 ing, that the hand was timid about seizing him. 

 But finally in his skirmishing with the dog I 

 caught him by the tail, and bore him safely to 

 an open flour-barrel, and he was our prisoner. 



Much amusement my little boy and I antici- 

 pated with him. He partook of food that same 

 day, and on the second day would eat the chest- 

 nuts in our presence. Never did he show the 

 slightest fear of us or of anything, but he was 

 unwearied in his efforts to regain his freedom. 

 After a few days we put a strap upon his neck 

 and kept him tethered by a chain. But in the 

 night, by dint of some hocus-pocus, he got the 

 chain unsnapped and made off, and he is now, I 

 trust, a patriarch of his tribe, wearing a leather 

 necktie. 



The skunk visits every farm sooner or later. 

 One night I came near shaking hands with one 

 on my very door-stone. I thought it was the 

 cat, and put down my hand to stroke it, when 

 the creature, probably appreciating my mistake, 

 moved off up the bank, revealing to me the 

 white stripe on its body and the kind of cat I 

 had saluted. The skunk is not easily ruffled, 

 and seems to employ excellent judgment in the 

 use of its terrible weapon. 



