n6 



I ran swiftly through the woods, making no 



noise in the soft snow, and crouched motion- 

 GJfien Vpweekis less under the spruces on the lower side of 



t j ie ^ Q - m ^ hoping to see the cunning hunters 

 again. There was but a moment to wait. 

 From under a bending evergreen tip Mokta- 

 ques leaped out and went flying across the 

 open for the next wooded point. Close be- 

 hind him sounded a snarl, and with a terrific 

 rush as she sighted the game the old lynx 

 burst out, calling savagely to her line of hunt- 

 ers to close in. Like the blast of a squall 

 they came, stretching out in enormous bounds 

 and closing in from either end so as to cut 

 off the circling run of the flying game. In 

 a flash the two ends of the line had met and 

 whirled in sharply; in another flash Mokta- 

 ques was crouching close in the snow in the 

 center of a fierce circle that rolled in upon 

 him like a whirlwind. As the smallest lynx 

 leaped for his ga'me an electric shock seemed 

 to touch the motionless hare. He shot for- 

 ward as if galvanized, leaping high over the 

 crouching terror before him, striving to break 

 out of the terrible circle. Then the lynx 



