ines might retire discreetly. But instead of that they merely
stopped gnawing, put their noses between their forelegs, squatted
flat, and presented an unbroken array of needle points to his
dangerous approach.

The big cat stopped, quite baffled, his little short tail, not more
than three inches long, twitching with anger. He could not see that
the tub was empty; but he could smell it, and he drew in his breath
with noisy sniffling. It filled him with rage to be so baffled; for he
knew it would be fatal to go any nearer, and so expose himself to a
deadly slap from the armed tails of the porcupines.

Just what he would have attempted, however, in his eagerness, will
never be known. For at this point, Mrs. Gammit's impatience overcame
her curiosity. With a gentle motion of her wrist she turned the
pepper-pot over, and softly shook it. The eyes of the wildcat were
fixed upon that wonderful, unattainable herring-tub, and he saw
nothing else. But Mrs. Gammit in the vivid moonlight saw a fine cloud
of pepper sinking downwards slowly on the moveless air.

Suddenly the wildcat pawed at his nose, drew back, and grew rigid with
what seemed an effort to restrain some deep emotion. The next moment
he gave vent to a loud, convulsive sneeze, and began to spit savagely.
He appeared to be not only very angry, but surprised as well. When he
fell to clawing frantically at his eyes and nose with both paws, Mrs.
Gammit almost strangled with the effort to keep from laughing. But she
held herself in, and continued to shake down the pungent shower. A
moment more, and the wildcat, after an explosion of sneezes which
almost made him stand on his head, gave utterance to a yowl of
consternation, and turned to flee. As he bounded across the yard he
evidently did not see just where he was going, for he ran head first
into the wheelbarrow, which straightway upset and kicked him. For an
instant he clawed at it wildly, mistaking it for a living assailant.
Then he recovered his wits a little, and scurried away across the
pasture, sneezing and spitting as he went.

Meanwhile the porcupines, with their noses to the ground and their
eyes covered, had been escaping the insidious attack of the pepper.
But at last it reached them. Mrs. Gammit saw a curious shiver pass
over the array of quills.

Now it was contrary to all the most rigid laws of the porcupine kind
to uncoil themselves in the face of danger. At the same time, it was
impossible to sneeze i