Part 12 (1/2)
”Whether the skunk laughed or not, _we_ did--especially Frank, who took this reat kettle against his shi+ns But we had no tiet solade, which was now filled with the suffocating s upon Harry to lay hold of his burden, we hurried as quickly as possible fro with the of stones to keep them at a respectful distance Harry had come off better than I expected--as the anis; and he had only received enough of the discharge to punish him for his rashness and disobedience
”As we continued our journey, I took the opportunity to instruct ular ani myself to Frank and Harry, 'that it is about the size of a cat, although broader and fleshi+er in the body, lower upon the liated snout
”'You have seen that it is a spotted and striped animal--and in this respect it also resembles the cat, as these spots and stripes are different upon different individuals of the same species--so much so that no two skunks are exactly alike in colour
”'You have witnessed the efficient ainst its enemies; and I shall now tell you all the rest that is known of its habits
”'It is a _carnivorous_ creature--destroying and eating s that have life as well as itself For this purpose it is furnished with strong, sharp claws, and three kinds of teeth, one of which--ter teeth--is a certain sy animal You must know, that the shape of the teeth will always prove this Anietables, such as horses, sheep, rabbits, and deer, have none of these canine teeth Well, the skunk has four of them--two in each jaw, and very sharp ones, too,--and with these he kills and eats (whenever he is lucky enough to get hold of thes, and lizards He is very fond of eggs, too; and frequently robs the farrouse and wild turkey--killing these birds whenever he can catch the, however, is not all upon his side--as the wolf, the horned owl, the wolverene, and the farmer, in their turn, lull _him_ whenever they can catch him He is not by any means a fast runner, and his safety does not lie in his swiftness of foot His defensive armour is found in the fetid effluviu upon his pursuer This he carries in two s outward about as large as the tube of a goose-quill
The effluvium itself is caused by a thin fluid, which cannot be seen in daylight, but at night appears, when ejected, like a double streaht He can throw it to the distance of five yards; and, knowing this, he alaits till the pursuer has fairly got within range--as the one we have just seen did with Castor and Pollux The discharge of this fluid rarely fails to drive off such enes, and ; and it is said that there are Indians who have lost their eyesight fros are frequently swollen and inflae of a skunk In addition to the disagreeableness of this odour, there is no getting rid of it after the fluid has once been sprinkled over your garments Clothesto them; and where a skunk has been, killed, the spot will retain the scent forupon it
”'It is only when attacked or angered that the animal sends forth his offensive fluid; and when killed suddenly, or before he has had ti of the kind is perceived upon his carcass
”'The skunk is a burrowing animal, and in cold countries he enters his hole, and sleeps in a half-torpid state throughout the winter In warm climates, however, he continues to prowl about all the year round, generally at night--as, like ht is his day In his burrohich runs several yards underground, he lives, in company with ten or a dozen of his corass and leaves, where she brings forth her young-- having froe as it may appear, the Indians, as well as many white men-- hunters and others--eat the flesh of this anireeable--equal, as they allege, to the finest roast pig
Soof our salt'”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
THE SALT SPRING
”We had now arrived on the banks of the salt creek; but asthe cliff close by, and knew that wewhich supplied this little rivulet, we resolved to travel on to the fountain-head A few hundred yards farther brought us to the spring, and it orth travelling a little farther to see
”Near the bottolobes, or bowls turned upon theirwhite quartz rock; and of all sizes, fro oven to the size of a wooden dish In the top of each there was a round cavity--like a little crater of a volcano--and in this the blue water bubbled and boiled as though a hot fire was in the ground underneath them There were in all nearly twenty of these, but many of theh the latter, of course, no water escaped to the creek These were old ones, that had ceased to run
”It was evident that these oven-looking mounds had been for the sediment that forrew beautiful plants and shrubs, whose leaves and flowers hung over, trailing in the water; and froay scarlet blossorance of their leaves scented the air It was altogether a sweet, cool spot, and filled us with feelings of enjoy these objects, we prepared to make our salt Frank and Harry collected armfuls of dry wood for the fire, while Cudjo erected a crane in his usual fashi+on
Upon this the kettle was suspended, and filled with crystal water out of one of the natural basins The fire soon blazed under it, and we had nothing more to do than wait until the evaporation should be co
”For this purpose we chose a spot where the ground was carpeted with a soft green turf; and upon it we all sat down to wait the result
”I need not say that in this we had a deep interest, aht not be salt after all The water tasted salt--that is true But so, too, would water inesia or the sulphate of soda When evaporated we ht find one or other of these substances
”'What is the sulphate of nesia, papa?' inquired Frank
”'Perhaps you would know it better by the na srin upon his face, 'I hope it won't turn out that But what sort of thing, then, is the sulphate of soda?'
”'That is the scientific name for Glauber's salts'
”'Worse still! I don't think we stand in need of either Do we, Harry?'
”'Not a bit of it,' responded Harry, also grinning at the thought of these well-known specifics 'I would rather it should turn out saltpetre and sulphur Then we could reat shot--as we have seen--and one of his fears was, that our stock of poould run out