124 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
gliding out of the den in the dim morning light, 
for the sun was not yet up, she sneaked like a 
ghost over the snow, and between the rocks, up 
the precipices above. After a time, crouched in 
a thicket on the topmost ledge, she peered back 
and saw one of the feared and hated race of men 
standing alert near the mouth of the den, and 
then coming on as if to follow up her trail. She 
turned once more and headed through the brush 
toward the summit of the mountain. She found 
a warm spot on the south side of a rock, and slept 
all day in the sun, letting her paw heal, and when 
night came she hunted, but in vain. The next 
day instinct led her back to the old den. 
As she came once more to the top of the ridge, 
the fish smell greeted her. This time the fish 
was close to the den, and at the base of a straight 
faced rock too high to reach down from above to 
the fish. But Lucy had other resources. She 
climbed a smallish hemlock, crept cautiously out 
on a lower branch till it sagged far down with 
her weight, and again sneaked up the fish on her 
claw. She nearly fell into the trap, to be sure, 
but managed to land on her feet at a safe dis- 
