28 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



over on the snow. Recovering herself, she 

 faced him for a moment or two with eyes that 

 flamed green, half minded to fly at his throat. 

 Then, thinking better of it, she turned away 

 and fell to nosing a mouse-trail. 



The trail was none too fresh, but neither 

 was it hopelessly stale. She chose to follow 

 it. Thereupon Grey Lynx, hopeful of some- 

 thing worth while, stole nearer to see what 

 she might be trailing. 



Now, it chanced that in this particular 

 neighbourhood a trapper had been busy. A 

 morsel of frozen fish lay upon the snow. 

 Both prowlers saw it at the same time, and 

 pounced for it. But it was Grey Lynx who 

 reached it first, and he bolted it in one mouth- 

 ful, while his mate snarled with rage. Sniffing 

 about for other possible fragments, he stepped 

 to one side. There was a muffled click be- 

 neath the surface of the snow. Straightway 

 Grey Lynx, doubling himself like a full- 

 drawn bow, and ripping out a screech of panic, 

 sprang into the air, with a steel trap hanging 

 to his left forepaw. 



The trap was attached by a chain to a solid 

 wooden balk, too heavy for Grey Lynx to 

 drag. Biting savagely at the strange horror 

 which had clutched him, yowling and spitting, 

 and rolling head over heels, he lost his wits 



