THE SNOW-WALKERS 59 



radius of which will be the exact distance at which 

 you can hurl a stone with accuracy and effect. 



He has a secret to keep and knows it, and is 

 careful not to betray himself until he can do so with 

 the most telling effect. I have known him to pre- 

 serve his serenity even when caught in a steel trap, 

 and look the very picture of injured innocence, 

 manoeuvring carefully and deliberately to extricate 

 his foot from the grasp of the naughty jaws. Do 

 not by any means take pity on him, and lend a 

 helping hand! 



How pretty his face and head! How fine and 

 delicate his teeth, like a weasel's or cat's! When 

 about a third grown, he looks so well that one cov- 

 ets him for a pet. He is quite precocious, however, 

 and capable, even at this tender age, of making a 

 very strong appeal to your sense of smell. 



No animal is more cleanly in its habits than he. 

 He is not an awkward boy who cuts his own face 

 with his whip; and neither his flesh nor his fur 

 hints the weapon with which he is armed. The 

 most silent creature known to me, he makes no 

 sound, so far as I have observed, save a diffuse, 

 impatient noise, like that produced by beating your 

 hand with a whisk-broom, when the farm-dog has 

 discovered his retreat in the stone fence. He 

 renders himself obnoxious to the farmer by his par- 

 tiality for hens' eggs and young poultry. He is a 

 confirmed epicure, and at plundering hen-roosts an 



