THE WOLVERENE 
143 
to protect himself, lak Nature teach us to do, riest - 
ce pas (isn’t that so)?” 
“Now that's a thought, Buck!” Uncle Ely said, 
with enthusiasm. 
“The carcajou—we trappers make game with him. 
He is hard to fool. But we have to try, or we catch 
no fur to sell. Sometimes we catch him. I have not 
catch many. But they teach me things. I no longer 
cache food in plain log cabin, in carcajou country. I 
keep it inside logs, but in metal boxes too. This ani¬ 
mal ver’ mean, but ver’ smart, too.” 
“I can see why you admire him and respect him, 
even though he causes you trouble,” Uncle Ely said. 
“I should say the wolverene is a really important wild 
citizen.” 
“ Oui, monsieur (yes, sir), he is. He is the best— 
and the worst—northern animal, we think. All out¬ 
door people up here know him and—what you say? 
—respec’ him. He is one fine North American.” 
“That’s the thought, Pierre! One fine North 
American! Many thanks for introducing us to the 
wolverene. Are you ready to ride on, children?” 
“Yes,” said Ginger, “and I am going to tell Mother 
we saw an animal that was both very bad and very 
fine. Good-by, Mr. Pierre.” 
