Porky

“ But when you are ready to perish with hunger, you will take risks which at other times you would not even think about; and so it happened that one February afternoon, as the Porky was trundling himself deliberately over the snow-crust, a fierce-looking animal with dark fur, bushy tail, and pointed nose sprang at him from behind a tree and tried to catch him by the throat, where the quills did not grow, and there was nothing but soft, warm fur. ”

“ The Porky's coat of quills and hair was so thick that a blow on the back did not trouble him much. If my friend could have hit him across the nose it would have ended the matter then and there, but the canoe was too narrow and its sides too high for a crosswise stroke. He tried thrusting, but that was no better. When a good-sized porcupine has really made up his mind to go somewhere he may be slow, but it takes more than a punch with the end of a stick to stop him; and this Porky had fully determined to go aft and get acquainted with the foreman. ”

“ And I don't believe there is any sight in all the Great Tahquamenon Swamp much funnier than a porky in a hurry—a porky who has really made up his mind that he is in danger and must hustle for dear life. ”

“ NO sooner was old Granny Fox out of sight, running as if she thought that every jump might be her last, than Jimmy Skunk came out from the hole under a big stump where he had been hiding, Peter Rabbit came out of the hollow log from which he had been peeping, and Unc' Billy Possum dropped down from the hemlock-tree in which he had so carefully kept out of sight, and all three began to dance around Prickly Porky, laughing as if they were trying to split their sides. ”

“ He showed Porky his weapon. It was a monkey wrench from the auto tool chest. In his hand it looked like a revolver.
"Pretty neat," said Porky. "Is there another one in the box?"
"Yes, I saw another," said Beany. "I don't see any harm in this. Any one might carry a monkey wrench," and replaced it carefully in his pocket.
"Sure thing," said Porky, making for the car, followed by his brother. "Didn't the Reverend Hannibal Butts get up to preach one Sunday, and dig for a clean handky to wipe his face with and come up with a bunch of waste and use it before he saw what he was doing?" ”

“ The newcomer in the Green Forest was a source of great interest to the Merry Little Breezes. Ever since they had seen him turn himself into a huge prickly ball, like a giant chestnut burr, and with a slap of his tail send Bowser the Hound yelping home with his lips stuck full of little barbed spears, they had visited the Green Forest every day to watch Prickly Porky. ”

“ Another inch, and the fisher would have won the game, but he was in such a hurry that he grew careless and reckless, and did not notice that he had wheeled half-way round, and that his hind-quarters were alongside the Porcupine's. Now, sluggish and slow though a porky may be, there is one of his members that is as quick as a steel trap, and that is his tail. Something hit the fisher a whack on his flank, and he gave a cry of pain and fury, and jumped back with half a dozen spears sticking in his flesh. ”

“ A pair of piercing yet kindly eyes were fixed on Porky as he came to attention and awaited permission to approach the huge table at which sat General Pershing and several members of his staff. Porky was conscious of something serious in the air. The faces that looked up as he entered were serious, and some of them frowning. Colonel Bright threw him a glance, then continued his restless tramp up and down the further end of the large apartment. Only General Pershing seemed wholly at ease. He beckoned the boy. Porky came and stood opposite the General, the width of the table between them. ”

“ Our Porky had seen it all. He waited till the men had tramped away through the woods, with their packs on their backs and their snow-shoes on their feet, and then he, too, came down from his tree on a tour of investigation. His friend's skin lay on the snow not very far away—if you had pulled the quills and the longer hairs out of it, it would have made the pelt which the old fur-traders sometimes sold under the name of "spring beaver"—but he paid no attention to it. The bacon rind was what interested him most, and he chewed and gnawed at it with a relish that an epicure might have envied. ”

“ Prickly Porky didn't say a word. He just smiled in a quiet sort of way as he slowly climbed up to the top of the hill.
Now old Granny Fox had been badly frightened. Who wouldn't have been at seeing a strange creature without head, tail, or legs rolling down hill straight towards them? But Granny was too old and wise to run very far without cause. She was hardly out of sight of the four little scamps who had been watching her when she stopped to see if that strange creature were following her. ”

“ Now Prickly Porky’s stomach was very, very full. He was fat and naturally lazy, so when he came to the doorstep of an old house just on the edge of the Green Forest he sat down to rest. It was sunny and warm there, and the longer he sat the less like moving he felt. He looked about him with his dull eyes and grunted to himself.
“It’s a deserted house. Nobody lives here, and I guess nobody’ll care if I take a nap right here on the doorstep,” said Prickly Porky to himself. “And I don’t care if they do,” he added, for Prickly Porky the Porcupine was afraid of nobody and nothing. ”

“ When mother gives the signal to "lie still" a kitten must not move, even if the life is scared half out of him. He must learn what food is good for him and what is not. A prickly porcupine is to be let alone, but sometimes a growing youngster's appetite gets the better of his judgment and his mouth waters for a taste of juicy Porky. Later he wishes he had listened to reason, when he gets a whack from old Porky's tail across the nose. His face is driven full of those deadly quills, and he jumps around like a crazy creature, tearing madly at his face with his big paws. ”

“ The porcupine is probably the safest from starvation of any of our woodland friends. He can eat anything from green leaves and tender plants to the little twigs and bark of our evergreen trees. Summer or winter, his larder is full. The lynx, wolves, carabou and moose may suffer during the long frozen winter; but the little Porky has only to climb the nearest tree and get busy with the eternal bark supply.
His teeth in themselves are an institution, two chisels in the lower and two in the upper jaw. ”

“ When you wake up, Porky, you are to do as you like for forty-eight hours. It is a leave given you on account of your good work yesterday. I have not seen Beany at all to-day. I enclose a pass that will take you wherever you want to go within the lines. Don't go to the outer trenches. Better take time to write some letters home. We are in for some hot work here. I don't mind telling you that there is a leak somewhere. Keep your eyes and ears open.
"Your friend, "COLONEL BRIGHT."
Porky folded the note and put it deep down in his pocket. ”

“ XIV. SLOW WIT AND QUICK WIT WHEN Prickly Porky the Porcupine and Old Man Coyote the Prairie Wolf met beside the Laughing Brook, it was a case of Slow Wit meeting Quick Wit. You see, Prickly Porky is very slow in everything he does, that is everything but flipping that queer tail of his about when there is an enemy near enough for it to reach. But in everything else he is oh, so slow! He walks as if he had all the time in the world to get to the place he has started for. He climbs in just the same way. And because he never moves quickly, he never thinks quickly. ”

“ He was not yet two years of age, but I believe that a porcupine is born old. Some of the Indians say that he is ashamed of his homely looks, and that that is the reason why, by day, he walks so slowly, with hanging head and downcast eyes; but at night, they say, [153] when the friendly darkness hides his ugliness, he lifts his head and runs like a dog. In spite of the hour and the cheering influence of the wash-tub, our Porky seemed even more low-spirited than usual. ”

“ Let's get out of this!"
"No special hurry," said Porky wearily. He could not recover at once from the shock, but Beany was chipper as a cricket.
"Well, I don't know," he said, "I have not grown so fond of this little old dungeon that I want to reside here long. Besides, perhaps you don't know the old lady who sweeps upstairs as well as I do. She is apt to be up to almost any trick."
"Not if the Court knows himself, and he thinks he does," said Porky positively. "I left her under the bed in the other room with about a mile of flossy curtain cord twined around her. ”

“ And then he tried again, and I had to do something quick, so I just took that bayonet—just took that bayonet—"
"All right," said the General. "All in the day's work, my boy. Go on!"
Porky swallowed hard a couple of times.
"Well, sir, there I was with Bogardus, and your orders to have him report to you; and he was not in any condition to report to anybody. So I had to wait until my brother could come and help me."
"How did he know where you were?" demanded the General in astonishment.
"He always knows," said Porky. "We are twins, and we always know when the other is in trouble of any sort. ”

“ Then suddenly Eddie called to me to look, and I found him pointing up into a tree.
"Porky, Porky!" he was saying, by which I guessed he had found a porcupine, for I had been apprised of the numbers in these woods. "Come, here's a shot for you," he added, as I drew nearer. "Porcupines damage a lot of trees and should be killed."
I gazed up and distinguished a black bunch clinging [Pg 76] to the body of a fairly large spruce, near the top. "He doesn't seem to be damaging that tree much," I said.
"No, but he will. They kill ever so many. The State of Maine pays a bounty for their scalps." ”

“ The Merry Little Breezes drew a long breath. "Thank you, Grandfather Frog, thank you ever so much!" they cried all together. "We are going back now to tell Prickly Porky that we know all about his little spears and how he happens to have them." ”

“ Beany did so.
"Don't leave me here, sir," cried the man below suddenly. "If the Germans find that we have allowed this spot to be discovered, they will shoot me. If the enemy comes I shall be shot. I will come quietly. I am glad to surrender."
"That's all right," growled Porky. "You are safe for a while. I am leaving a guard here. We want a few English-speaking prisoners, so you are quite safe for a while."
"One of those men outside speaks English also," cried Fritz.
"All right," said Porky. "I advise you to keep still. ”

“ It never seems to enter his head that he is making other people happy just by being happy himself and saying so.
At first he hardly noticed the strange noise, but when he stopped singing for a bit of a rest, he heard it very plainly, and it sounded so very queer that he flew up the hill towards the place from which it seemed to come, and there his bright eyes soon discovered Prickly Porky. Right away he saw that Prickly Porky was in some kind of trouble, and that it was he who was making the queer noise. ”

“ In the summer, the bark, buds and foliage of many trees, shrubs and plants are used. Porky is very fond of salt and will gnaw on anything that contains it; shovel or other tool handles with deposits of perspiration on them, or antlers after being shed, are a delicacy. Occasionally he kills a tree by removing too much bark but seldom does enough damage to be of economic importance.
One litter with usually one, or rarely if ever two young, is born each year in late April or May. A baby porcupine at birth weighs about a pound and is as large or larger than a bear cub. ”

“ No sooner had Peter been made comfortable in the old house behind the big stump on the hill where Prickly Porky lives than the four scamps began to wonder who else they could scare with the terrible creature without head, legs, or tail which had so frightened Reddy and Old Granny Fox.
"There is Old Man Coyote; he is forever frightening those smaller and weaker than himself. ”

“ Once upon a time when the world was young, Mr. Porcupine, the grandfather a thousand times removed of Prickly Porky, whom you all know, lived in the Green Forest where old King Bear ruled. Mr. Porcupine was a slow clumsy fellow, just as his grandson a thousand times removed is to-day. He was so slow moving, and when he tried to hurry tumbled over himself so much, that he had hard work to get enough to eat. Always some one reached the berry patch before he did. The beetles and the bugs were so spry that seldom could he catch them. ”

“ I could see that Eddie was anxious to break his vow, now that his victim was really dead by my hand. We gathered up a few of the quills—gingerly, for a porcupine quill once in the flesh, is said to work its way to the heart—and passed on, leaving the black pin cushion lying where it fell. Perhaps Porky's death saved one or two more trees for the next Nova Scotia fire.
There were no trout for luncheon at our half-way halt. The brook there was a mere rivulet, and we had not kept the single small fish caught that morning. ”

“ Who is Porky, and why and when did you bet him ten bob?'
'He was my fag at Eton, Meg, and I bet him ten bob he'd never be a Bishop.'
'Have you paid him yet?'
'I've given him six and tenpence on account, little 'un. Why, he's only a colonial.'
'Oh, daddy! you really are a poppet; you're much too nice to be a parson ”

“ They settled back in the car which was to take them back to General Bright. They heard the other cars glide quietly and swiftly away in the distance. They too shot out at high speed.
Soberly they stared into the darkness. Their thoughts flew forward to the tiresome trip to the port of embarkation, the long ocean voyage with its deadly inaction. They had been living in confusion, danger, and uncertainty. They commenced to see before them their home, their father and mother, the familiar fellows.
"We have to get Bill and Peggy," said Beany.
"Yep!" said Porky briefly. ”