240 



JPeguam 



back toward the place where he had entered, 

 only to find it shut securely. The squirrel 

 hole was then closed by stakes driven through 

 to the rotten wood beneath, and Pequam 

 was caught, with only some six feet of hol- 

 low shell to rage around in. 



I confess I would gladly enough have 

 stopped here; for the sight of any trapped 

 animal, however fierce, that has known all 

 its life only absolute liberty, always awakens 

 in me the desire to break its bars and set it 

 free again. But Newell had no such scruples. 

 Here was a prime fur worth eight dollars, to 

 say nothing of plundered marten traps. The 

 fire that sleeps in an Indian's eyes and that 

 always kindles at the sight of game began to 

 flash as he chopped a long notch through 

 the top of the shell, driving in stakes as 

 he advanced, and slowly but surely pinning 

 Pequam into a space where a blow of the 

 ax would finish it all. 



Through the narrow slit I could see him, 

 the flash of his eye and the white gleam of 

 his teeth under his brown muzzle as he tried 

 the opening, and then the sweep of his bushy 



