The next instant he gave voice to a howl of pain, for his sensitive paw struck a handful of quills,—and it was exactly like slapping at the points of so many needles. Nay, worse, as Bob was to find,—for each punishing quill was barbed at the end. Bob’s reaction came with the swiftness of unreasoning instinct. With one lunge he was down on the branch below, and traveling earthward as fast as three sets of powerful claws would let him. [Illustration: “He gave voice to a howl of pain” —Page 106 ] Bob certainly felt as if he had been shot, as he scuttled back to earth with paw smarting from the slap he had given the little brown ball in the tree-top. And for days to come, he was to nurse a foot that was so sore he went on three legs, and picked out the soft spots. He needed no further teaching to keep his distance, when he saw a harmless black ball gnawing a supper of birch bark, or lying all humped up like a mammoth chestnut burr. No, decidedly, Unk Wunk had nothing further to fear from Bob. It was from quite another quarter that he had to be on guard. [Illustration: [Lynx]] XXXVI TWINKLY WATCHES AGAIN The little Black Bear was non-plussed. Surely it would be rash to try to punish Unk Wunk. But young Frisky Fox was like many another youngster. He wanted to find out for himself. Therefore, one night when Mother Red Fox had taken the pups all out for a hunt, Frisky had caught a whiff of that tan-ta-liz-ing smell that had made Bob’s mouth water. “Hurry! There’s our supper now!” he had yipped joyously. “Sh!—Do you want to scare everything within earshot?” Mother Red Fox had whispered, as she nipped his ear. “Besides, that’s nothing we can eat at this time of year.” “Why not?” insisted Frisky, though under his breath, for his mother was still within nipping distance. “It smells perfectly great!” “It tastes great, too! But we can’t catch porcupines at this time of year, I tell you; it takes deep snow to catch them.” This satisfied him for the moment. But as they came nearer and nearer to the tempting odor, he sniffed and sniffed till he could hardly stand it. Then suddenly he saw where it came from, just a little dark lump on the ground—that’s all it was! It didn’t look in the least like a creature that could run away. “Why, I could catch that fellow myself, just as easily as not!” he told himself. “I wonder why on earth mother thought I couldn’t? I’d just like to show her, anyway!” And he felt strongly tempted to slip on ahead and try it. He did, in fact, tiptoe along behind a fallen log, till he came to a little clump of bushes right beside the porcupine. And there he stood watching and listening, and wondering for all he was worth why he couldn’t leap right on the creature and set his teeth in his throat. And the little Bear watched too!