42 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



from beneath a point of the ledge came a long 

 black snout, and then the mother of the family 

 old Mrs. Wood-Pussy. 



I did not budge. Out she came, and passing 

 the children by without so much as a sniff, made 

 off around a rock. But if she did not look at them, 

 they did not apparently look at her. Had she 

 been a fox her babies would have had her by the 

 tail right off, and she would have had to nip them 

 sharply to make them behave ; but the old skunk 

 crawled out and made off without a word or sign 

 to her family or from them. 



But they all followed her, and tagging along 

 one after another, they made off down the ravine 

 for their suppers of mice, and grubs, sweet corn 

 or chickens! I hope it was not chickens. For 

 the skunk is one of our best mousers, killing great 

 numbers of mice in the fields and woods; he is 

 also a great destroyer of harmful insects. But 

 he will eat chicken if he finds it. Anybody will, 

 in fact. So I hope it was not toward one of the 

 chicken coops on the island that the family were 

 going, for they ought not to be killed; they do 

 much more good than harm. 



I don't know where they went before morning, 

 for darkness had come, and I could not follow 



