THE WOLVERINE. 



501 



propensity of the animal for tree-cutting is again hinted at, 

 as well as his keenness of scent: 



"Brown advised that, as this was a good place, some 

 provisions be cached for those of the party avIio were to 

 return from Jasper's; and Yalad selecting a site in the 

 greenwood, he and Beaupre went off to it from the oppo- 

 site direction, with about twenty-five pounds of pemmican 

 and flour, tied uj) first in canvas and then in oil -skin, as 

 the Wolverine —most dreaded plunderer of caches — dislikes 

 the smell of oil. Selecting two suitable pine-trees in the 

 thick wood, they skinned (barked) them to prevent animals 

 from climbing; then placing a pole between the two, some 

 eighteen feet from the ground, they hung a St. Andrew's 

 cross of two small sticks from the i)ole, and susj)ended 

 their bag from the end of one, that the least movement, or 

 even puff of wind, would set it swinging. Such a cache 

 Yalad guaranteed against bird and beast of whatever 

 kind." 



Whether his guarantee held good, or whether the Wol- 

 verine, disregarding the cross and defying the ingenuity 

 of the voyageurs^ i^lundered the cache, the historian does 

 not state. 



