The cousin, without the least argument, agreed heartily to this.  He was honest enough.  He explained carefully that the skunk was wished to be caught to keep it from biting chickens under the wing, causing them to die, and not for any value whatever it might have to the person catching it.  He says it will be beneficial to catch the skunk, but not to keep it; that a skunk is not nice after being caught, and Lew Wee is more than welcome to it if he will make a right trap.  The cousin himself was probably one of these fatal “Can happen!” boys.  When Lew Wee says he must have the skunk alive and in good condition he just looked at him in a distant manner that Lew Wee afterward remembered; but he only said:  “Oh, very well!” in his native language.

Lew Wee then found a small peaked-roofed chicken coop, with stout slats on it, and made a figure-four trap, and put something for bait on the pointed stick and set the trap, and begun right off to squander twenty-five dollars that was to come as easy as picking it up in the road.

There wasn’t any breakfast trade at the country club and Lew Wee was able to get over across the golf links to the chicken place early the next morning.  The cousin was some distance from the chicken place, hoeing a bed of artichokes, but he told Lew Wee his trap had been a very wonderful trap and the night animal was safe caught.  Lew Wee was surprised at his cousin’s indifference and thought he should of been over there looking at the prize.  But not so.  The cousin was keeping some distance off.  He just told Lew Wee that there was his animal and that he should take it away with as little disturbance as possible, which would be better far and near for all concerned.  He was strangely cool about it.

But Lew Wee was full of pleasant excitement and run swiftly to his trap.  Sure enough!  There was a nice big beautiful skunk in his trap.  Lew Wee had never seen one.  He said it was more beautiful than a golden pheasant, with rich, shiny black fur and a lovely white stripe starting from its face and running straight down on each side of its back; and it had a wonderful waving tail, like a plume.  He looked at it joyfully through the slats.  It was setting down comfortably when he come up; so he spoke to it in a friendly way.  Then it got up and yawned and stretched itself, looking entirely self-possessed, but kind of bored, I suppose, like this was a poor sort of practical joke to play on a gentleman; so now would someone kindly lift this box off him?

The proud owner danced about it in great glee and told it how the nice doctor wouldn’t hurt it any, but would give it a good home, with chicken for supper, mebbe, and so on.  Then he went back to his cousin and give him a pack of cigarettes, out of his overflowing heart, and asked where was something he could put his wild animal in and take it to town to his great friend Doctor Hong Foy, who had a desire for it.

The cousin took the cigarettes, but he looked at Lew Wee a long time, like he didn’t understand Chinee at all.  Lew Wee said it all over again.  He wanted something to take the wild animal to town in, because the chicken coop it was now in hadn’t any bottom; and was too big, anyway.