u6 



We Mite Wolfs 

 lP^ c 7fim///?g 



wolves hot on his trail before he had taken 

 a dozen jumps. Whereupon he took to an- 

 other tree and the game began again. 



When the night was exceeding cold — 

 and one who has not felt it can hardly 

 imagine the bitter, killing intensity of a north- 

 ern midnight in February — the wolves, in- 

 stead of going away, would wait under the 

 tree in which the lynx had taken refuge, and 

 the silent, appalling death-watch began. A 

 lynx, though heavily furred, cannot long 

 remain exposed in the intense cold without 

 moving. Moreover he must grip the branch 

 on which he sits more or less firmly with his 

 claws, to keep from falling; and the tense 

 muscles, which flex the long claws to drive 

 them into the wood, soon grow weary and 

 numb in the bitter frost. The wolves mean- 

 while trot about to keep warm ; while the 

 stupid cat sits in one spot slowly perishing, 

 and never thinks of running up and down 

 the tree to keep himself alive. The feet 

 grow benumbed at last, powerless to hold 

 on any longer, and the lynx tumbles off 

 into the wolves' jaws ; or else, knowing the 



