He came to a wide, flat, spreading juniper bush, just the kind
that might have a bird's nest under it; and as he nosed around it he
came face to face with little Stripes. You see, they were both after
the same thing, and both had the same idea about the best place to look
for it.
"Now, that young bear's education had been terribly neglected. He
didn't know any more about skunks than you do. So he thought, maybe
the soft little black-and-white thing with the fluffy tail carried so
airily might be just as good to eat as birds' eggs--besides being more
filling, of course.
"He would have grabbed little Stripes right off, had the latter tried
to run away. But as Stripes showed no sign of any such intention, the
bear hesitated. After all, there didn't seem to be any great hurry!
He put out a big paw to slap the stranger, but changed his mind and
drew it back again, the stranger seemed so unconcerned. It was
decidedly queer, he thought to himself, that a little scrap of a
creature like that should be taking things so easy when he was around.
He began to feel insulted.
"As for Stripes, nothing was farther from his mind than running away
from the big black creature that had suddenly appeared in front of him.
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