"Oh, we'll soon change all that, boys," declared Trapper Jim. "Build up the fire and we'll get busy. Just wait and see how it's done."
It was, after all, a very simple thing.
Trapper Jim's idea seemed to be built on the principle that "like is cured by like." He believed in overpowering one odor with another.
And when that cabin began to fill up with the appetizing scent of frying onions, flanked by that of some ground coffee, which Jim allowed to scorch close to the flames, even "hard-to-please Steve" admitted that everything seemed peaceful and lovely again.
"But after this," he remarked, "I hope when we all go away from home we'll be careful to close the blinds as well as the door."
"Yes," added Owen, "and hang out a sign 'This house is taken; no skunks need apply.' One dose was enough for me."
"But, s-s-say, wasn't it a c-c-cunning little b-b-beast," observed Toby, "and d-d-didn't he look real sassy when he m-m-marched off with his t-t-tail up over his s-s-shoulder?"
Steve looked at him severely.
"You'd better be mighty careful how you admire one of them striped critters at close quarters, Toby, if ever you meet one in the woods," he remarked.
"S-s-sure I will be careful," replied the other, with a wide grin.