PHOBY-CATS 77 



4 < Whereabouts is he f Which way did he go ?" we 

 shouted. 



Brown, hjstead of answering, rubbed his eyes and 

 looked sheepishly about him. He seemed to be com- 

 ing slowly out of a daze. 



" Doggone it," he ejaculated, at last, "I reckon 

 there wan't none. This yere arm of mine done gone 

 to sleep an' when I woke up dreamin' trouble and 

 felt it lyin' under me and smelt that there skunk 

 I shore thought my arm was bit." 



We had "the edge" on Brown and were not loath 

 to take advantage of it. There was considerable 

 laughter at the packer's expense, in the midst of 

 which he retreated into his tent. 



Then we began to wonder where Bert and Moak 

 were. We found them deep in their blankets with 

 tarps pulled over their heads. They pretended to 

 be asleep but the pretence was hardly convincing. 



The real skunk, whose proximity no one doubted, 

 did not annoy us that night but a few evenings there- 

 after he entered the camp precincts, doubtless to 

 forage at the garbage hole, and was oddly enough 

 chased into Brown's tent by one of the dogs and 

 killed upon the packer's bed. For some days there- 

 after both bed and dog were deservedly unpopular. 



As Frazer put it, after suffering for a day : * * I 've 

 heard of animals dying game; but that skunk died 

 * gamier' than anything I ever knew of." 



We finally forgave him Frazer, that is ! 



