THE SEVEN SLEEPERS 191, 
He is one of the best friends of the farmer — and the 
worst treated. Given a fair chance, every week he 
will eat several times his weight in mice and insects. 
Moreover, with the muskrat he contributes divers 
furs to the market, whose high-sounding names 
disguise their lowly origin. During the coldest part 
of the winter he retires to his burrow and sleeps 
fitfully. He is the last to go to bed and the first to 
get up; and on any warm day in late winter you may 
see his close-set, alternate, stitch-like tracks in the 
snow. The black-and-white banner of skunk-kind is 
a huge bushy resplendent tail, sometimes as wide as 
it is long. At the very tip is set a tuft like the white 
plume of Henry of Navarre. When it stands straight 
up, the battle is on, and wise wild-folk remove 
themselves elsewhere with exceeding swiftness. As 
for the simple — they wish they had. 
The armament of this Seventh Sleeper is simple 
but effective. It consists of two scent glands located 
near the base of the tail, which empty into a movable 
duct or pipe which can be protruded some distance. 
Through this duct, by means of large contractile 
muscles, a stream of liquid musk can be propelled 
with incredible accuracy, and with a range of from 
six to ten feet. Moreover the skunk’s accurate 
breech-loading and repeating weapon has one de- 
vice not yet found in any man-made artillery. Each 
gland, besides the hole for long-range purposes, is 
pierced with a circle of smaller holes through which 
the deadly gas can be sprayed in a cloud for work at 
close quarters. The skunk’s battery can be operated 
