122 Wilderness Ways. 



kee-yaaah ! startled me ; I whirled towards the open- 

 ing. From behind the old log a fierce round head 

 with tasseled ears rose up, and the big lynx, whose 

 trail I had first followed, sprang into sight snarling 

 and spitting viciously. 



The feast stopped at the first alarm. The marten 

 disappeared instantly. The foxes and the fisher and 

 one lynx slunk away. Another, which I had not seen, 

 stalked up to the carcass and put his fore paws upon it, 

 and turned his savage head in my direction. Evidently 

 other lynxes had come in to the kill beside the five I 

 had followed. Then all the big cats crouched in the 

 snow and stared at me steadily out of their wild yellow 

 eyes. 



It was only for a moment. The big lynx on my 

 side of the log was in a fighting temper; he snarled 

 continuously. Another sprang over the log and 

 crouched beside him, facing me. Then began a curi- 

 ous scene, of which I could not wait to see the end. 

 The two lynxes hitched nearer and nearer to where I 

 stood motionless, watching. They would creep forward 

 a step or two, then crouch in the snow, like a cat 

 warming her feet, and stare at me unblinkingly for 

 a few moments. Then another hitch or two, which 

 brought them nearer, and another stare. I could not 

 look at one steadily, to make him waver; for the 



