“Of course not,” Tad giggled, “Stripes hates it himself. He’s so afraid of getting it on his own fur that he won’t use it unless someone’s foolish enough to plague him into it—like me,” he finished, sanding a new spot to get it clean. “But Watch can trail him now.”
“What did you do?” My, but Nibble was curious to know.
Tad looked half ashamed, the way he always does when his tricks come back on him. “Well, he just would turn his back on me—and he was so rude and there was a mussel, such a big one, with a big sharp shell—so all the time I was being so polite I was letting it close on the end of his tail. And he couldn’t make it let go when he wanted to. My, but wasn’t he scared!”
So that was Tad’s trick. It was certainly clever, but Nibble didn’t sleep very close to him that night.
CHAPTER IX
STRIPES SKUNK LEARNS HOW TO BEHAVE
Early, early in the morning Stripes Skunk came snooping into the Pickery Things. Of course they caught hold of him until Nibble Rabbit waked up. And as soon as he sniffed that scent in the air he said, “Is that you, Tad Coon?”
“No,” said a meek, whiny voice; “it’s me, Stripes Skunk. I’ve been talking with the little owls. Please, won’t you make a compact with me?”
“Compact!” Nibble exclaimed. “Of course I won’t! And no one else will!” At that Stripes began to cry. “Won’t you even try me?” he sobbed. “I’d not want to be friends. I just want to be let alone as long as I’m good. Won’t you give me a chance to show you how very good I can be?”
So Nibble finally promised to talk things over with Watch and Doctor Muskrat. Doctor Muskrat didn’t say anything, but he waited out on his flat stone for Watch. And when Watch came he fairly howled at the idea.
“Make a compact with that murderer?” he barked. “Not when he’s killed those little chicks that belong to Tommy Peele. I’ll kill him.”