CHAPTER XII 



TWO 'POSSUMS AND SEVERAL MISTAKES 



Two 'possums each made mistakes, with the 

 result that they both got themselves into many 

 kinds of trouble, with almost tragic consequences. 



As we know, 'possums, like owls, usually travel 

 only by the light of the moon, the stars, or by no 

 light at all. When all the world is hushed in sleep, 

 hen roosts are much easier to rob, for except the 

 cackling of a hen and even that should not happen 

 if the job is neatly done there need be no noise or 

 fuss of any kind. Even the watch-dog, keen-eared 

 as he is, may sleep on oblivious of all that the 

 'possums are doing within his precinct. But, as 

 already stated, the two 'possums with which we are 

 dealing made mistakes, and the first of these 

 mistakes was neither more nor less than that they 

 came out by daylight. The day was dull and 

 grey, it is true, but none the less it was day, and 

 therefore not the time for 'possums to be out. 



'Possum One (as we will call him), who had 

 selected a temporary home in a drain-pipe only the 

 night before, had been disturbed, because some 

 thoughtless man had turned a flood of water into 

 his pipe home and had given him a most unwelcome 

 bath. So he determined, force of circumstances 

 urging the determination, to make for a certain 

 large gum tree, whose branches overhung the 



