abject, but game to the last tough fibre. All
fangs and rending claws, with a screech and a bound he met the
onslaught of the pack; and, for all the hideous handicap of that thing
of iron on his leg, he gave a good account of himself. For a minute or
two the wolves and their victim formed one yelling, yelping heap. When
it disentangled itself, three of the wolves were badly torn, and one
had the whole side of his face laid open. But in a few minutes there
was nothing left of the unfortunate lynx but a few of the heavier
bones--to which the pack might return later--and the scrap of fur and
flesh that was held in the jaws of the trap.

[Illustration: "SNAPPED BACK AT HIM WITH A VICIOUS GROWL."]

As the carcajou saw her prospective meal disappearing, her rage became
almost uncontrollable, and she crept down the tree-trunk as if she
would fling herself upon the pack. The leader sprang at her, leaping
as high as he could against the trunk; and she, barely out of reach of
his clashing, bloody fangs, snapped back at him with a vicious growl,
trying to catch the tip of his nose. Failing in this, she struck at
him like lightning with her powerful claws, raking his muzzle so
severely that he fell back with a startled yelp. A moment later the
whole pack, their famine still unsatisfied, swept off again upon the
trail of the moose. The carcajou came down, sniffed angrily at the
clean bones which had been cracked for their marrow, then hurried off
on the track of the wolves.

II

Meanwhile, it had chanced that the man on snowshoes, fetching a wide
circle that would bring the end of his line of traps back nearly to
his cabin, had come suddenly face to face with the fleeing moose. Worn
out with the terror of his flight and the heart-breaking effort of
floundering through the heavy snow--which was, nevertheless, hard
enough, on the surface, to bear up his light-footed pursuers--the
great beast was near his last gasp. At sight of the man before him,
more to be dreaded even than the savage foe behind him, he snorted
wildly and plunged off to one side. But the man, borne up upon his
snowshoes, overtook him in a moment, and, suddenly stooping forward,
drew his long hunting-knife across the gasping throat. The snow about
grew crimson instantly, and the huge beast sank with a shudder.

The trapper knew that a moose so driven must have had enemies on
its trail, and he knew also that no enemies but wolves, or another
hunter, could have