AN INTERESTING TRAIL 147 



went back to the leaf, which now showed 

 coagulation. Taking the trail backward, no 

 other drops were discovered, so again to the 

 leaf I went once more. I looked in all di- 

 rections, but no blood was to be seen. Then 

 I looked upwards. Overhead was an oak 

 tree; a large branch from it spread out over 

 the trail. Hanging from the middle of that 

 branch I saw something waving in the gentle 

 breeze. It seemed to be glued to the side of 

 the limb, and it was in a perpendicular line 

 with the bloody leaf below. The solution of 

 the puzzle came quickly now. The waving 

 thing was the tail of a red squirrel. Some 

 carnivorous bird or animal — most likely a 

 marten, the red squirrel's most deadly enemy 

 — had caught the saucy little fellow by the 

 back of the neck, had killed and eaten him, 

 the blood flowing down the side of the limb. 

 The tail had been caught in the blood which 

 acted like mucilage to fix it to the limb, and 

 one drop of blood only had fallen to the 

 ground, finding a resting place on the oak leaf. 



Now after this digression we must return to 

 the story of our trail. 



The snow-covered mountain was crossed, 

 and it turned out to be a divide, so down we 

 went to another watershed. The canyon at 



