54 Wilderness Ways. 



the scent of the weasel, and vanished into the under- 

 brush on the trail. 



Kagax woke with a start and ran on. A big bull- 

 frog croaked down on the shore. Kagax stalked and 

 killed him, leaving his carcass untouched among the 

 lily pads. A dead pine in a thicket attracted his 

 suspicion. He climbed it swiftly, found a fresh round 

 hole, and tumbled in upon a mother bird and a family 

 of young woodpeckers. He killed them all, tasting 

 the brains again, and hunted the tree over for the 

 father bird, the great black logcock that makes the 

 wilderness ring with his tattoo. But the logcock 

 heard claws on the bark , and flew to another tree, 

 making a great commotion in the darkness as he 

 blundered along, but not knowing what it was that 

 had startled him. 



So the night wore on, with Kagax killing in every 

 thicket, yet never satisfied with killing. He thought 

 longingly of the hard winter, when game was scarce, 

 and he had made his way out over the snow to the 

 settlement, and lived among the chicken coops. 

 " Twenty big hens in one roost — that was killing," 

 snarled Kagax savagely, as he strangled two young 

 herons in their nest, while the mother bird went on 

 with her frogging, not ten yards away among the lily 

 pads, and never heard a rustle. 



