A STRANGE CRY. 233 



back, provided it was sufficiently large to afford us all 

 a full meal ; and I therefore kept an eye out for porcu- 

 pine sign as well, intending to return straight away if 

 I knocked over one of these fellows. I hadn't gone 

 more than a mile when I thought I heard a child cry 

 a little distance to my right; and you may be sure that 

 I felt rather startled, well knowing that in all likeli- 

 hood there was not a child within fifty miles in any 

 direction. 



" Presently the noise was repeated ; and, full of curi- 

 osity, I immediately proceeded in the direction from 

 which it seemed to come. I advanced very cautiously, 

 keeping myself well concealed, and I frequently stopped 

 to listen for a repetition of the strange cry. 



" I soon arrived at the edge of a little glade which 

 had evidently been cleared in the woods by some ter- 

 rible storm long ago, as the trees were lying over it, 

 but so moss-grown and decayed that they crumbled 

 beneath the foot. Some young pine-trees had grown 

 up through the entangled trunks, and I soon discovered 

 that the creature which made the noise I had heard was 

 concealed behind these. 



" I was about to move forward, when I observed that 

 another animal had appeared upon the scene; and,strange 

 to say, it seemed to be attracted by the cries which at 

 intervals proceeded from behind the cover of the pines. 

 The new-comer was no other than the Canada lynx ; 

 and I guessed by his slouching gait that he was as in- 

 terested as I was myself in ascertaining what kind of 



