striking the ground lightly and darting away 

 as if he enjoyed the dizzy plunge. And, like 

 the larger cats, he sometimes creeps over his 

 game on a lofty limb and leaps down upon 

 it like a thunderbolt; though, unlike Pe- 

 kompf the wildcat and Lhoks the panther, 

 I have never known him to watch in a tree 

 over the runways. His nose is too good 

 and his patience too poor to lead him to 

 these pot-hunting and abominable methods. 

 It is in following Pequam's trail through 

 the snow that you learn, as you do with 

 most large animals, the story of his life. For 

 the northern forests, in winter especially, 

 seem but bare and tenantless places. Far in 

 the South life seems to be the order of the 

 universe : earth, air, and water swarm at all 

 times with a multitude of creatures. Here 

 all is different. Silence and death seem 

 to have gripped the world and emptied it. 

 From early morning, when the intense cold 

 silences all things, to the short midday, when 

 the feeble sun brings forth a jay's cry or a 

 squirrel's disturbing chatter, and on to the 

 early twilight, when the trees groan again 



231 



JPegustrn 



