496 
THE STORY OF THE SKUNK. 
“A settler in the Argentine Republic started one evening to ride to a 
dance at a neighbor’s house. It was a dark, windy evening, but there 
was a convenient bridle path through the dense thicket of giant thistles, 
and, striking it, he put his horse into a swinging gallop. Unhappily the 
path was already occupied by a skunk, invisible in. the darkness, that in 
obedience to the promptings, of its insane instinct, refused to get out of it 
until the flying hoofs hit it and sent it like a well-kicked football into the 
thistles. But the forelegs of the horse as high as the knees were liberally 
sprinkled, and the rider, after coming out into the open, dismounted, walked 
away twenty.yards from his animal, literally smelled himself all over and 
pronounced himself clean. Not the smallest drop of the diabolical spray 
had touched his dancing shoes so far as he could discover. Springing into 
the saddle he proceeded to his journey’s end and was warmly received by his 
host. 
“In a little while the other guests began exchanging whispers and sig¬ 
nificant glances. Ladies coughed and put their handkerchiefs to their noses, 
and presently began to feel faint and retire from the room. 
“The settler began to notice that there was something wrong, and 
presently discovered the cause. He had been the last person to remark that 
familiar but abominable odor, rising like a deadly vapor from the floor, con¬ 
quering all other odors and every moment becoming more powerful. A 
drop had touched his shoe after all!” 
The skunk, of which there are several varieties, is an exclusively Ameri¬ 
can animal. 
The common skunk is an inhabitant of Northern and Central America, 
ranging from Hudson’s Bay in the north to Guatemala in the south, and it 
may be compared in size to a rather small cat, the length of the head and 
body always exceeding a foot. It is a stoutly built animal, with a small 
head, short and rounded ears, a moderately long body, and legs of medium 
length. The long and bushy tail is thickly clothed with very long and fine 
hair, and is, as already mentioned, generally carried curled over the back 
when the animal is walking. Its length, inclusive of the hair, is somewhat 
less than that of the head and body. The general color of the moderately 
long hair of the body is black or blackish, and, although there is a great 
amount of individual variation, the white markings usually take the form of 
a streak on the forehead, a spot on the neck, and two stripes running down 
the back. The tail is black, more or less mixed with white, or merely tipped 
