Excerpt
The outlaws had been sniffing around the spring. They must be looking for the gold, so Rosie the skunk would have to take her chances. If they found Pa’s letter, they would know right where to go.
He stroked the black and white striped head and slid Rosie into the lighted room. He quickly stuffed all four kits in after her. The kits were less tame, and Travis breathed a sigh of relief when they didn’t spray him.
The result of Rosie and the kits’ insertion was quick and extreme. Apparently, the outlaws had been drinking. Furniture crashed and the front and back doors flew open. Outlaws ran into the dogtrot, fell off the porch, and yelled cuss words a mile a minute. Travis could hear Rosie and the kits scratching their way across the wood floors. Then gunfire erupted, and Travis cringed.
But this was his chance. He slipped into his bedroom, found the hole in the cotton cover of his moss-stuffed mattress, and pulled out Pa’s letter. Rosie waddled over to him, clearly confused. Travis scooped her up along with three of the kits. He couldn’t find number four. After tossing them under the house, he tucked the letter into his pocket and peered through the bedroom door. Kit number four was waving his tail like a flag. That was a sign of things to come. One of those bad men was taking aim with a big pistol.
The gun weaved back and forth in the outlaw’s drunken hands as the man tried to get a bead on the kit. But before he could get off his shot, the kit turned around and sprayed him. The outlaw fired and the shot went wild.