tail as the ax drove him aside. Again and 

 again he whirled on us savagely; for, unlike 

 the fox and bear that know when you have 

 won and that lie down quietly for the blow, 

 Pequam rights and defies you to the very 

 end. Game killer and robber of traps he 

 may be ; but traps are barbarous things at 

 best, and the animal that robs them is only 

 saving some innocent life from suffering, 

 though he knows it not. Here he was, the 

 shadow of the woods become solid substance 

 at last, his marvelous cunning overmatched 

 by man's intelligence. Not a chance left in 

 the tough shell that held him fast, while the 

 steel bit nearer and nearer and the stakes 

 pinned him in. And there was something 

 magnificent, an appeal not to be answered 

 lightly, in the way he clung to life, claimed 

 it, fought for it, and screeched out at us 

 defiantly that his life was his own and we 

 must not take it away. 



" Got um safe now," I ventured at last. 



"Safe!" grunted the Indian between the 

 steady chucks of his ax, "by cosh, Pequam 

 never safe till he dead; an' den he fool 



241 



^Pequam 

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