Striped Coat, the Skunk

by Joseph Wharton Lippincott

There was no other opening. Striped Coat was trapped at last.

Mr. Henry, the man at the door moved quietly to a chair and sat down.

“Mike,” he called, “did you ever see a skunk like that? It’s the black one they’re all after. Isn’t he a daisy!” The top of Mike’s head and one eye appeared warily over the window sill.

“He’s all of that,” he answered, “the biggest, prettiest skunk I ever saw! And he nearly had me, too!” Mr. Henry laughed, then picked a piece of fish from one of the plates on the table, and laid it on the floor in front of him. Soon Striped Coat in circling the room again, came across this and ate it just to show he was not afraid. When he came around again, he found another piece in the same place and ate that. It was good fish! Every time he came to that spot he found a piece, laid there by Mr. Henry, whom he presently began to watch with more interest than he would show an enemy. When this man moved at all, it was so slowly that Striped Coat could not take offense.

Presently the man stood up, very quietly moved to the corner of the room and pulled a huge wood box the distance of a foot from the wall; behind this, in the corner, he spread some clothes and an armful of cotton waste. Striped Coat could go in and out of this cozy nest from either side of the box; it therefore had none of the looks of a trap. After a little while he tried it, then tried it again and finally settled down for a rest in this new bed.

“Well, I never!” came from the awe-struck Mike. Mr. Henry then arranged some bedding on one of the sofas and suggested that Mike also prepare for a sleep; but that worthy preferred the boat. The last thing was to place some more fish and a bowl of water on the floor and to open the door leading out to the woods; after that Mr. Henry went comfortably to sleep on the couch.

Striped Coat, too, actually took a nap, the warmth being pleasant and the stillness reassuring. Before the glow of the fire had entirely died, however, he walked out and looked all around the room; finding the door open he moved out, then returned and ate the fish; soon afterwards he was again in the woods but with no unfriendly feeling towards the Henry cabin. Near the Creek he came across a likely den under a stump, and being loggy with all the food he had eaten, slipped in there for the day.

This proved a serious blunder, for a picnic party came up the creek in canoes and chose that precise spot for luncheon. One of the men sat on the stump and amused himself by poking sticks into the hollow underneath it, finding to his surprise that something inside resented this and replied with distinctly audible stamps of its feet. Proudly announcing this discovery, he poked more thoroughly while the others stood about and excitedly encouraged him.

Suddenly there was a scuffle and out sprang Striped Coat, at the same time giving the young man the full benefit of the musk bath. Amid the confusion of shrieks from the women and yells from the men he slipped into the bushes and ran as he had never run before. After him came a yelling crowd, gathering up sticks and trying to head him off.

And still Striped Coat ran, dodging and threatening his pursuers when they came too close, but ever getting nearer to the Henry cabin. At the open doorway stood Mr. Henry, a pipe in his mouth; he did not move a muscle as the wood pussy crossed the little clearing, eyed him inquiringly and then slipped by and into his nest behind the woodbox, with all his old dignity suddenly returned.