"About a hundred and fifty feet of it, isn't there?"
"A hundred and sixty," said Addison. "Enough, you know, to go round that
patch of sweet corn in the garden."
"That wire fence worked well with four-footed robbers," the old Squire
remarked, with a twinkle in his eye. "Perhaps it might serve for the
two-footed kind. You fetch that down, boys; I've an idea we may use it
to-night."
For several summers the garden had been ravaged by skunks. Although
carnivorous by nature, the little pests seem to have a great liking for
sweet corn when in the milk.
Wire fence, woven in meshes, such as is now used everywhere for poultry
yards, had then recently been advertised. We had sent for a roll of it,
two yards in width, and thereafter every summer we had put it up round
the corn patch. None of the pests ever scaled the wire fence; and
thereafter we had enjoyed our sweet corn in peace.
That night, just after dusk, we reared the skunk fence on top of the old
pound wall, and fastened it securely in an upright position all round
the inclosure. The wall was what Maine farmers call a "double wall"; it
was built of medium-sized stones, and was three or four feet wide at the
top.
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