PHOBY-CATS 73 



Or Brown would come in some evening with a long 

 face and state, confidentially, "I seen the biggest 

 b'ar track to-night I seen in a month of years. 

 Seems like them b'ars is gittin' mighty bold here- 

 'bouts lately. I have hearn tell of one comin' plumb 

 into camp and jump in ' onto a feller. But I don't 

 hardly think they'd be likely to this time of year. 

 What do you reckon, Bert?" 



"Dunno," Bert would reply, in a hushed voice, 

 shaking his head dubiously; "a feller can't never 

 tell no thin' 'bout them critters. They mought take 

 it into their heads to do anathin'." 



As a matter of fact there was little danger from 

 anything but skunks. But of these pests even cow- 

 punchers and woodsmen, careless in the presence of 

 most perils, stand in deadly fear. For the skunk 

 will sometimes attack a sleeping camper and bite 

 any exposed part, usually the face, before the vic- 

 tim is aware of his approach. The danger lies, ac- 

 cording to local tradition, in the fact that the ani- 

 mals are occasionally hydrophobic, especially dur- 

 ing the dry season. Instances of a horrible death 

 resulting from their attacks are by no means rare. 

 And so prevalent in consequence is the dread of 

 them and so general the belief in their power to 

 infect one who is bitten, that the small spotted skunk 

 is invariably known locally as the "phoby-cat." 



Brown and Bert were careful to hide their fear 

 of skunks as long as they could, but it was revealed 

 during our Tierra Blanca sojourn in a rather dra- 



