Part 5 (1/2)

Several signs tell the trapper that thewas done at night; and the wolverine is nocturnal All the traps had been approached from behind The wolverine will not cross man's track The poison in the meat had been scented

Whether the wolverine knows poison, he is too wary to experi of the traps tells of the curiosity which characterizes the wolverine Other creatures would have had too much fear The tracks run back to cover, and not across country like the badger's or the fox's

Fearless, curious, gluttonous, wary, and suspicious, the mischief-maker and the freebooter and the crier to save the northland froe to destroy wounded, weaklings, and laggards--the wolverine has the nose of a fox, with long, uneven, tusk-like teeth that see The eyes are well set back, greenish, alert with alence of the type that preys Out of the fulness of his wrath one trapper gave a perfect description of the wolverine He didn't object, he said, to being outrun by a wolf, or beaten by a respectable Indian, but to be outwitted by a little beast the size of a pig with the snout of a fox, the claws of a bear, and the fur of a porcupine's quills, was more than he could stand

In the econon--destruction Beaver-da onslaught of its claws He robs everything: the opher burrows; the cached elk and buffalo calves under hiding of so-place; the traps of his greatest foe, raves of the dead; the very tepees and lodges and houses of Indian, half-breed, and whiteman's track, he will follow it for days, like a shark behind a shi+p; for he knows as well as the man knows there will be food in the traps when the e when the man is at the traps

But the wolverine has two characteristics by which he luttony and curiosity

After the deer has disappeared the trapper finds that the wolverine has been ular rounds of the traps as he has himself It is then a question whether the round A case is on record at Moose Factory, on James Bay, of an Indian hunter and his ere literally brought to the verge of starvation by a wolverine that nightly destroyed their traps The contest ended by the starving Indians travelling a hundred miles from the haunts of that ”bad devil--oh--he--bad devil--carcajou!” Reluttony of his eneest steel-traps He takes so meat, bacon or fish, and places it where the wolverine tracks run Around this he sets a circle of his traps, tying thes and stakes In all likelihood he has waited his chance for a snowfall which will cover traces of thethe man comes to his traps The meat has been taken All else is as before Not a track marks the snow; but in midwinter meat does not walk off by itself The man warily feels for the hidden traps Then he notices that one of the stakes has been pulled up and carried off That is a sign He prods the ground expectantly It is as he thought One trap is gone It had caught the wolverine; but the cunning beast had pulled with all his strength, snapped the attached sapling, and escaped A fox or beaver would have gnawed the imprisoned limb off The wolverine picks the trap up in his teeth and hobbles as hard as three legs will carry hi of a bush, or better still, to the frozen surface of a river, hidden by high banks, with glare ice which will not reveal a trail But on the river the man finds only a trap wrenched out of all se opened to release the ione to the river to study out the proble

One un trick The loaded weapon is hidden full-cock under leaves or brush Directly opposite the barrel is the bait, attached by a concealed string to the trigger The first pull will blow the thief's head off

The trap experience would have frightened any other anirows bolder, and the trapper knows he will find his snares robbed until carcajou has been killed

Perhaps he has tried the gun trick before, to have the cord gnawed through and the bait stolen A wolverine is not to be easily tricked; but its gluttony and curiosity bring it within man's reach

The man watches until he knows the part of the woods where the wolverine nightly gallops He then procures a savoury piece of er, not heavy enough to send it off The gun is suspended froreen, which will hide the weapon The bait hangs froer above the wolverine's reach

Then a curious ga the trapper sees the wolverine tracks round and round the tree as if determined to ferret out thethe tracks have coet up to the bait, one whiff would tell hi the puzzle till his mark is deep printed in the snow

The trapper smiles He has only to wait

The rascal may become so bold in his predatory visits that the

But if the s at the end of the cord There coht when the wolverine's curiosity is as ra claws and a blare of fire-smoke blows the robber's head into space

The trapper will hold those hunting-grounds

He has got rid of the most unwelcome visitor a solitary man ever had; but for the consolation of those whose sympathies are keener for the animal than the man, it may be said that in the majority of such contests it is the wolverine and not the man that wins

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 30: Radisson and Groseillers, froions ard of Duluth]

[Footnote 31: Especially the Chateau de Raround vaults were built for the storing of pelts in case of attack frolander and Iroquois These vaults may still be seen under Chateau de Ramezay]

CHAPTER VII

THE BUFFALO-RUNNERS