“I surely do!” Jud was very positive about it. There was no doubt that, even on such short acquaintance, he liked Don quite as well as Don liked him. “Well, I’ve got a plan,” he said eagerly. “I want you to tell me what you think of it.”
“Let’s hear it,” said Don.
“Well, come around to the chicken yard and I’ll explain,” said Jud. “Now here,” he said a few moments later, “you see our chicken yard has a high fence and a small gate at the far end.”
“I see,” said Don; “the gate opens out and latches on the outside.”
“Yes, and it’s a strong latch too. Well, I thought we could leave the gate open and attach a long rope to it and run it through the fence on this side and back to the wagon shed here, where you and I could wait. Then if Mr. Skunk comes along and enters the yard, all we’ll have to do is to pull the gate shut and we’ll have him. Of course he won’t be able to hurt the chicks ’cause they’ll be locked tight in the hen-house. What do you think of the idea, Don?”
“Mighty good; but what’ll we do with the skunk when we catch it?”
“Oh, Fred Ferguson next door will kill it for us in the morning.”
“And what if it shouldn’t be a skunk? What if it should be a Redcoat?”
Jud laughed. “I guess we shan’t catch a Redcoat,” he replied. “I hate ’em so much I guess I was unfair the other day. It’s a skunk all right; you’ll see.”
“I hope so,” said Don. “We’d be in a nice fix if we caught a Redcoat.”