"No; I am not so mean, Ham. There is enough for all in these woods."
"Bah! don't tell me!" snorted the dudish youth, and stalked off, followed by two of his cronies.
Ham Spink was dressed in as fine a hunting outfit as he could procure, and his shotgun was an expensive nickel-plated affair—-the kind of a gun some old hunters who know will not have for a gift.
Ham Spink had just caught sight of a small animal, hidden in the long grass of a glade but a short distance away.
"I am going to bring it down, whatever it is!" he cried to Dick
Bush. "Keep back!"
"Ham's found something to shoot at!" cried one of the other boys.
They all held back, to give their leader a chance to show his ability.
Snap and his chums watched curiously.
"I don't see anything——-" began Giant, and then he burst into a laugh. "It's a skunk!"
"A skunk?" repeated Shep. "If that's so, Ham had better give it a wide berth."
It was indeed a skunk, dark in color and with a bushy tail. As it moved along in the grass it looked somewhat like a large black cat. Excited, Ham Spink ran close, took hasty aim and let fire.