THE WINTER WOODS 163 



these places, you would find it strewn with the quills 

 that had fallen out from time to time." 



" If something bit them so they lost some quills, 

 would new quills grow in right away, or would they 

 have to wait for a regular time ? " 



" They begin to grow immediately, but it would take 

 three months before the quills would be ready to shed 

 again." 



" I should think if they ran through the bushes their 

 quills would catch in everything and come off, and 

 then any beast could kill them ! " 



"But they seldom run. Did you ever see a Porcu- 

 pine run, Olaf ? " asked J\Ir. Blake. 



" They run, sir ; but not so fast that a man may not 

 overtake them : they are so slow and stupid that it is 

 wonderful any yet live. Still in the north woods they 

 increase more and more, while the good Deer and use- 

 ful fur beasts are seen less and less." 



" Do you remember a toy dog you once had, Nat, 

 that could be wound up and would walk ? " 



" Oh, yes ; only he didn't walk well, and after a min- 

 ute or two he couldn't go straight, — then he went 

 very slow and stopped." 



" That is precisely the way a Porcupine moves, but 

 even up in the pine trees where he spends most of his 

 time, and is really quite an acrobat in his deliberate 

 way, he goes from branch to branch in the same slow 

 manner, as much as to say : ' Have I not a -^vliole regi- 

 ment of spearmen on my back to protect me ? IMy time 

 is my own ! ' So he continues to crawl about chiefly 

 at night, sometimes stopping to croon or sing to him- 

 self, and is really a very unobjectionable object, unless 



