By the time you get through you have
spoiled a lot, and eaten only a little. I think I'll punish you a
little myself by keeping you here a while. If you think you can't
keep awake, just go over and sit down there by Prickly Porky; he'll
keep you awake."
"I--I think I can keep awake," stammered Bobby and opened his eyes
very wide as if he were trying to stretch his eyelids so as to make
them stay open.
"I'll help you by asking you a few questions," replied Old Mother
Nature. Who is it that people sometimes call you the little
cousin of?"
Bobby grinned. "Buster Bear," said he.
"That's right," replied Old Mother Nature.
"Of course, being a Raccoon, you are not a Bear, but you are related
to the Bear family. I want you all to notice Bobby's footprints
over yonder. You will see that the print of his hind foot shows
the whole foot, heels and toes, and is a lot like Buster Bear's
footprint on a small scale. Bobby shuffles along in much the same
way that Buster walks. No one ever mistakes Bobby Coon for any one
else. There is no danger that any one ever will as long as he
carries that big, bushy tail with its broad black and gray rings.
There is only one other in all this great country with a tail so
marked, and that is a relative of Bobby's of whom I will tell you
later. And there is no other face like Bobby's with its black
cheeks.
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