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cTfiwfing 



Old Tom ah, the trapper, was abroad now, 



taking advantage of the spring hunger. The 



Iffe ""'TV wruiio wo lves often crossed his snow-shoe trail, or 



followed it swiftly to see whither it led. For 

 a wolf, like a farm dog, is never satisfied till 

 he knows the ways of every living thing that 

 crosses his range. Following the broad trail 

 Wayeeses would find here a trapped animal, 

 struggling desperately with the clog and the 

 cruel gripping teeth, there the flayed car- 

 cass of a lynx or an otter, and yonder the leg 

 of a dog or a piece of caribou meat hung 

 by a cord over a runway, with the snow dis- 

 turbed beneath it where the deadly trap was 

 hidden. One glance, or a sniff at a dis- 

 tance, was enough for the wolf. Lynxes do 

 not go about the range without their skins, 

 and meat does not naturally hang on trees; 

 so Wayeeses, knowing all the ways of the 

 woods, would ignore these baits absolutely. 

 Nevertheless he followed the snow-shoe trails 

 until he knew where every unnatural thing 

 lay hidden ; and no matter how hungry he 

 was, or how cunningly the old Indian hid 

 his devices, or however deep the new snow 



