THE INDIAN DEVIL. 153 



But vain hope, the wolverine is there to stop, 

 and only opens his jaws when the deer is dead, 

 or, as in my instance, through fear for his per- 

 sonal safety. 



Our beaver hunt was spoilt for that night, 

 so we moved back on the trail and camped. 

 There we passed our time drying the deer's 



meat and skinning the Indian devil. 



* * * 



The amount of destructiveness contained in 

 a full grown wolverine, or, as he is sometimes 

 called, carcajo and Indian devil, is something 

 past belief to any one who has not Jived in the 

 country in which they resort. The tales told by 

 hunters and lumbermen of the doings of this 

 strong and able beast would fill pages. Some of 

 these, like fish stories, may be seasoned by a 

 pinch of salt, therefore I will only jot down a 

 few that I experienced personally in my trap- 

 ping days. 



Hunger cannot always be adduced as a rea- 

 son for their thieving propensities, inasmuch as 

 they will steal martens, rabbits and partridges 

 out of traps and snares when they are full to 

 repletion just out of pure cussedness, as it were, 

 to make the owner of the traps and snares to use 

 unseeming language. 



When once a wolverine gets on a line of 

 deadfalls the trapper has either to abandon his 



