72 THE SNOW-WALKERS. 



very little discretion or cunning, and holds a trap in 

 utter contempt, stepping into it as soon as beside it, 

 relying implicitly for defense against all forms of 

 danger upon the unsavory .punishment he is capable 

 of inflicting. He is quite indifferent to both man and 

 beast, and will not hurry himself to get out of the 

 way of either. Walking through the summer fields 

 at twilight, I have come near stepping upon him, and 

 was much the more disturbed of the two. When at- 

 tacked in the open fields he confounds the plans of 

 his enemies by the unheard-of tactics of exposing his 

 rear rather than his front. " Come if you dare," he 

 says, and his attitude makes even the farm-dog pause. 

 After a few encounters of this kind, and if you enter- 

 tain the usual hostility towards him, your mode of 

 attack will speedily resolve itself into moving about 

 him in a circle, the radius of which will be the exact 

 distance at which you can hurl a stone with accuracy 

 and effect. 



He has a secret to keep, and knows it, and is care- 

 ful not to betray himself until he can do so with the 

 most telling effect. I have known him to preserve 

 his serenity even when caught in a steel trap, and 

 look the very picture of injured innocence, manoeu- 

 vring carefully and deliberately to extricate his foot 

 from the grasp of the naughty jaws. Do not by any 

 means take pity on him, and lend a helping hand ! 



How pretty his face and head ! How fine and 

 delicate his teeth, like a weasel's or cat's! When 

 about a third grown, he looks so well that one cov 



