OP A RANCHMAN 



109 



tain times the bite of the skunk is surely 

 fatal, producing hydrophobia; and many 

 cowmen, soldiers, and hunters have annu- 

 ally died from this cause. There is no wild 

 beast in the West, no matter what its size 

 ami ferocity, so dreaded by old plainsmen 

 as this seemingly harmless little beast. 



I remember one rather ludicrous incident 

 connected with a skunk. A number of us, 

 among whom was a huge, happy-go-lucky 

 Scotchman, who went by the name of 

 Sandy, were sleeping in a hut, when a skunk 

 burrowed under the logs and got in. Hear- 

 ing it moving about among the tin pans 

 Sandy struck a light, was much taken by 

 the familiarity of the pretty black and white 

 little animal, and, as it seemed in his eyes a 

 curiosity, took a shot at it with his revolver. 

 He missed ; the skunk, for a wonder, retired 

 promptly without taking any notice of the 

 attack ; and the rest of the alarmed sleepers, 

 when informed of the cause of the shot, 

 cursed the Scotchman up hill and down dale 

 for having so nearly brought dire confusion 



