“Look out!� barked Watch. “Let it alone!� But he didn’t say it before Tad had touched the glass with his little wet claw. Before he could jerk it back the water began sizzling and he got a bit of a burn. “Ow, ow!� howled poor Tad, dancing around with his paw in his mouth. “It’s a buzzer with a hot tail.� (He meant a paper wasp.) “Ow, ow!� he sobbed. “It bit me!� So that scared all the Woodsfolk all over again.
Doctor Muskrat knew all about the fires that sometimes burn up the marshes, but Tad didn’t, because he’s always gone to sleep for the winter before they begin. Nibble Rabbit knew something about them, because Watch tried to explain when he told what was happening to Grandpop Snapping Turtle. (Tommy Peele’s mother was cooking him.) But nobody ever dreamed Stripes Skunk would understand.
Stripes did know. He knew the rule of tents because his people were friendly with the Indians just like cats are friendly with us housefolk. They hunted around the campfires to catch creepy-crawley things. He didn’t know the difference between Louie’s blanket and a real tent, nor between Louie’s lantern and a real campfire because he’d never seen them. So he was just as pleased as though this was a real camp and Louie a real Indian. “Come along,� he called to his kittens. “This is the rule of fires: When the men aren’t walking around them you can lie down three tail lengths from the light and get your whiskers warm.� So down they lay. And weren’t they just conceited because all the other Woodsfolk had their eyes popped out, staring at them.
All this time, Tad was sitting right squash on his bushy tail in the edge of the pond, using all his other three paws to hold the poor burned one in his mouth—because it hurt him so dreadfully—at least he thought it did. Tad Coon’s always thinking he’s killed when he’s hardly more than mussed his fur. (He made an awful fuss the time Grandpop Snapping Turtle nipped his tail, and after all, Grandpop only pulled a couple of hairs out.) “Oo-h-ow-h-ow!â€� whimpered Tad, licking himself between each sniffle.
“Let’s see, let’s see!� said Doctor Muskrat. He began peering at it in the darkness way off away from the lantern.
“Come up here by the fire,� giggled Watch. “It’s not hurting Stripes. If you don’t get too close to its cage you’re all right. It can’t jump out and bite you.� Now wasn’t that a sensible way to explain about a lantern to the Woodsfolk? It surely is just a little flame of fire all shut up safe inside of its glass, like a goldfish in a bowl.
So Tad and Doctor Muskrat crept up close, jumping just a little whenever the flame danced, and peeked at the poor burned paw. It had just the teeniest, weeniest little pinhead of a blister. When Tad saw how very little it was he felt quite cheerful again, and forgot all about it.
Indeed, he was more curious than ever about the lantern. “Where did Louie catch it?� he wanted to know. “What does it eat? Doesn’t it ever run wild at all?�
“Sometimes,� said Watch with a little shiver. “Then it grows very, very fast and eats up everything it can reach. I’ve seen a little bit of a fire like that eat up a whole haystack in about the time it takes the sun to set. But men are very, very careful never to let it get out if they can possibly help it. They keep it in strong black cages (he meant stoves, of course), and feed it cold black stones. (That was coal, you know.) Or they keep it in a cave and feed it a bit of wood. (Watch meant an open grate.) It spits and sputters and sometimes a little piece jumps out, but someone always catches it. And they keep a lot in little cages like this and feed it water with a funny smell.� (That’s lamps burning kerosene.)
But you couldn’t expect the Woodsfolk to believe such things!