120 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 



my camp. Near camp two otters met and 

 turned aside and later I followed their trail 

 to otter slide. Two woodchucks met by a 

 boulder on which I sat quietly. They counter- 

 marched in half war-like half circles. A pause, 

 then with apparently friendly negotiations pro- 

 gressing, they discovered a coyote slipping 

 toward them. 



Many times through the years I waited for 

 odd hours, and days, at a promising place on a 

 trail a few miles from my cabin. The tracks 

 along this showed it to be in constant use, 

 but never have I seen a traveller pass along it. 

 My being at many a meeting elsewhere was just 

 a coincidence. Years of wilderness wander- 

 ings often made me almost by chance an un- 

 invited guest I was among those present. 



Dull fellows well met were skunk and por- 

 cupine. These dull-brained but efficiently 

 armed fellows are conceded the right-of-way 

 by conventional wilderness folk. They blun- 

 dered to head-on clash. Never before had this 

 occurred. Each was surprised and wrathy. 

 There was a gritting of teeth. Each pushed 

 and became furious. Then the skunk received 

 several quills in the side and in turn the por- 

 cupine a dash of skunk spray. Both abandoned 

 the trail, sadder but not wiser. 



Deer, bear, beavers, and wolves travel be- 



