ii8 Wilderness Ways. 



In summer Upweekis is a solitary creature, rearing 

 his young away back on the wildest burned lands, 

 where game is plenty and where it is almost impossible 

 to find him except by accident. In winter also he 

 roams alone for the most part ; but occasionally, when 

 rabbits are scarce, as they are periodically in the north- 

 ern woods, he gathers in small bands for the purpose 

 of pulling down big game that he would never attack 

 singly. Generally Upweekis is skulking and cowardly 

 with man ; but when driven by hunger (as I found out 

 once) or when hunting in bands, he is a savage beast 

 and must be followed cautiously. 



I had heard much of the fierceness of these hunting 

 bands from settlers and hunters; and once a friend 

 of mine, an old backwoodsman, had a narrow escape 

 from them. He had a dog. Grip, a big brindled cur, 

 of whose prowess-in killing >" varmints " he was always 

 bragging, calling him the best "lucififer" dog in all 

 Canada. Lucififer, by the way, is a local name for 

 the lynx on the upper St. John, where Grip and his 

 master lived. 



One day in winter the master missed a young heifer 

 and went on his trail, with Grip and his axe for com- 

 panions. Presently he came to lynx tracks, then to 

 signs of a struggle, then plump upon six or seven of 

 the big cats snarling savagely over the body of the 



