26o 



7be7Iia//offfie 

 Cunning One 



if ■ 







though they know little of the world then 

 and are easily caught in traps; but when 

 the spring comes and small game is scarce, 

 and they are neither skillful nor powerful 

 enough to tackle a deer, then they fall back 

 on the skill and generosity of their elders. 

 Sometimes they find their own mother; 

 more often — for Pequam, like Mooweesuk 

 the coon, has a streak of gentleness in him 

 for his own kind — they take up the trail of 

 the first big fisher they cross, and follow it for 

 days to pick the bones and to eat up any- 

 thing he may have left of his kill after his 

 own hunger is satisfied. 



More interesting than these tagging trails 

 of the young fishers are those of the foxes 

 that follow Pequam. Foxes are always hun- 

 gry, and in the spring, when they are raven- 

 ous and when Pequam takes to killing deer 

 on the crust, two or three of them will hang 

 to the trail of a big fisher and live for weeks 

 on the proceeds of his hunting. Pequam 

 rarely covers or hides his kill ; but if it be a 

 small one, and the territory be not disturbed 

 by men, he will often lie close beside his 



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