498 BIG GAME OF NOllTII AMERICA. 



coming ofteiier than I did — to my great annoyance and vex- 

 ation. I determined to put a stop to his thieving and his 

 life together, cost what it might; so I made six strong 

 traps at as many different points, and also set three steel- 

 traps. For three weeks I tried my best to catch the beast, 

 without success; and my worst enemy would allow that I 

 am no green hand in these matters. The animal carefully 

 avoided the traps set for his own benefit, and seemed to be 

 taking more delight than ever in demolishing my marten- 

 traps and eating the martens — scattering the j^oles in every 

 direction, and caching what baits or martens he did not 

 devour on the spot. As we had no poisons in those days, I 

 next set a gun on the bank of a little lake. The gun was 

 concealed in some low bushes, but the bait was so i)laced 

 that the Carcajou must see it on his way uj) the bank. I 

 blockaded my path to the gun with a small pine-tree, w^hich 

 completely hid it. On my first visit afterward, I found that 

 the beast had gone up to the bait and smelled it, but had 

 left it untouched. He had next pulled up the pine-tree 

 that blocked the path, and gone around the gun and cut the 

 line which connected the bait with the trigger, just behind 

 the muzzle. Then he had gone back and i)ulled the 

 bait away, and carried it out on the lake, where he laid 

 down and devoured it at his leisure. There I found my 

 string. 



"I could scarcely believe that all this had been done 

 designedly, for it seemed that faculties fully on a par with 

 human reason w^ould be required for such an exploit, if 

 done intentionally. I therefore re-arranged things, tying 

 the string where it had been bitten, but the result was 

 exactly the same on three successive occasions, as I could 

 plainly see by the foot-prints; and w^hat is most singular of 

 all, each time the brute was careful to cut the line a little 

 back of where it had been tied before, as if actually reason- 

 ing with himself that even the knots might be some new 

 device of mine, and therefore a source of hidden danger he 

 would prudently avoid. I came to the conclusion that that 

 Carcajou ought to live, as he must be something at least 



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