The Boy and the Lynx 
see this season. The plague had done its work 
too well. 
One day she caught a Red-squirrel which 
had run into a hollow log that proved a trap. 
Another day a fetid Blacksnake was her only 
food. A day was missed, and the little ones 
whined piteously for their natural food and 
failing drink. One day she saw a large black 
animal of unpleasant but familiar smell. Swiftly 
and silently she sprang to make attack. She 
struck it once on the nose, but the Porcupine 
doubled his head under, his tail flew up, and 
the mother Lynx was speared in a dozen places 
with the little stinging javelins. She drew them 
all with her teeth, for she had “learned Porcu- 
pine” years before, and only the hard push of 
want would have made her strike one now. 
A Frog was all she caught that day. On 
the next, as she ranged the farthest woods in a 
long, hard hunt, she heard a singular calling 
voice. It was new to her. She approached it 
cautiously, up wind, got many new odors and 
some more strange sounds in coming. The 
loud, clear, rolling call was repeated as the 
mother Lynx came to an opening in the forest. 
174 
