Upweekis the Shadow. 119 



heifer. Grip, the lucififer dog, rushed in bhndly, and 

 in two minutes was torn to ribbons. Then the lynxes 

 came creeping and snarUng towards the man, who 

 backed away, shouting and swinging his axe. He killed 

 one by a lucky blow, as it sprang for his chest. The 

 others drove him to his own door ; but he would never 

 have reached it, so he told me, but for a long strip of 

 open land that he had cleared back into the woods. 

 He would face and charge the beasts, which seemed 

 more afraid of his voice than of the axe, then run des- 

 perately to keep them from circling and getting 

 between him and safety. When he reached the open 

 strip they followed a little way along the edges of the 

 underbrush, but returned one at a time when they 

 were sure he had no further mind to disturb their 

 feast or their fighting. 



It is curious that when Upweekis and his hunting 

 pack pull down game in this way the first thing they 

 do is to fight over it. There may be meat enough and 

 to spare, but under their fearful hunger is the old 

 beastly instinct for each one to grab all for himself ; so 

 they fall promptly to teeth and claws before the game 

 is dead. The fightings at such times are savage 

 affairs, both to the eye and ear. One forgets that 

 Upweekis is a shadow, and thinks that he must be 

 a fiend. 



