186 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 



by Boots, intended to climb the tree and attack said 

 lynx with a club. Our part was to encircle the tree 

 and help Boots if the lynx elected to fight on land 

 instead of aloft. If so be that he sprang on any one 

 of us, the rest were to attack him instantly, before 

 he had time to lap the blood of his victim — a 

 distressing habit which Buck advised us was charac- 

 teristic of all Canada lynxes. 



This masterly plan was somewhat marred by the 

 actions of Robbie Crane. Robbie was of a gentle 

 nature, and one whose manners and ideals were far 

 superior to the rough boys with whom he occasion- 

 ally consorted. Mrs. Crane said so herself. After 

 reflecting a moment on the lynx's unrestrained and 

 sanguinary traits, he suddenly disappeared down the 

 back-track with loud sobbings, and never stopped 

 running until he reached home an hour later. There- 

 after our names were stricken from Robbie's calling- 

 list by Mrs. Crane. 



As Buck, boosted by Boots, started up the tree, 

 the perfidious lynx disappeared in an unsuspected 

 hole beneath a branch, from which he refused to come 

 out in spite of all that Buck and Boots could do. 

 One member, at least, of that hunting-party was 

 immensely relieved by his unexpected retreat. It 

 was many years later before I learned that even such 

 masters of woodcraft as Buck and Boots could be 

 mistaken, and that the Canada lynx was really a 

 Connecticut coon. 



It was not until recently that I ever met Lotor by 

 daylight. Three years ago I was walking down a 



