72 THE SNOW-WALKERS. 



very little discretion or cunning, and holds a trap in 

 ntter 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 h'elda 

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

 was much the more disturbed of the two. Hrc hen 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. 



i/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 

 fron: 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 



