EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES I 19 



head foremost, then tail foremost. Then he'd 

 hit the river with the broad o' his side, an' it 

 sounded like a gun had went off. An' when- 

 ever he was up his head was shakin' to an' fro, 

 an' his bulldog jaws was snappin', an' his little 

 eyes was like the eyes o' a crazy man. . . . 

 Then he began to swim roun' in little circles. 

 Then he stopped still, and five minutes after- 

 wards we could see the whitey-yellow o' his 

 belly showin' in the roiled stream. We went 

 out an' towed him ashore. . . . He was 

 the only musky I ever see die o' plain worry. 

 I guess it was shame as killed him. On the 

 scales he run up just no Ib. 13 oz. before he 

 was dressed. He measured 6 ft. i| in. from 

 his front teeth to his tail fork. 



Fergy has a good deal to say about skunks 

 and their dominant intellects. 



" A skunk," said Fergy, " may be close by, 

 ur he may be a mile away. Th' smell bein' 

 here ain' no sign that the smell-maker's here. 

 . . . I killed one onct, an' he fell on a flat 

 rock out'n th' woods. I went by that way a week 

 atter, an' the rock smelt just as strong as it did 

 five minits atter I done the killin' ; a month later 

 an' it still smelt nex spring an' it smelt yet." 



