roused old memories, and an old slumbering
hate. The trail led on below the spruces, and was fresh enough to be
easily followed. And now Kiopo's whole being seemed to change. He no
longer slouched along with a sulky and dejected air. His body stiffened
and became alive. He carried himself as if on compressed springs. His
eyes glowed with a dangerous fire. As he went on, the scent freshened
with the odour he detested. The hair between his shoulders rose like a
threat.

By the side of a big hemlock, the trail bent sharply to the right,
leading over some rocky ground at the foot of a small hill. Upon the
granite boulders covered with grey and orange lichen, the reflected
light from the sunset sky lingered in a warm glow, as if they themselves
were luminous. Kiopo moved with the utmost caution. He hardly seemed to
walk so much as to _slide_ over the uneven surface, with his belly close
to the ground. Instinct, as much as sense, told him that the object of
his hatred was now extremely near. In another moment, his eyes saw what
hitherto he had only gathered with his nose.

Not twenty yards away lay the dead body of a deer; and, busily at work
upon the carcass, crouched the form of a big, hunched-up animal with
sharp, tufted ears. Those humped hind quarters, those hair-tufted ears
surmounting the round, short-nosed head were familiar enough to Kiopo to
tell him, apart even from the scent, that the humped ferocity before him
was one of those ancient enemies of wolf and fox--the lynx.

The creature was so deeply engrossed in its occupation of feeding on the
deer that at first it was totally unconscious of the wolf's presence.
Tearing and biting at the freshly-killed and still-warm meat, it was
enjoying its horrible feast without any fear of interruption. Kiopo drew
his long body noiselessly nearer, foot by foot. He had almost reached a
leaping distance, and was gathering his hind legs under him for a
spring, when the lynx suddenly turned its head.

In an instant the great cat had realized the approaching danger and had
snatched his whole body round so as to face the foe.

A more violent image of hate and defiance could not possibly be
imagined. Its round, widely-spaced green eyes shone with a cold glitter
that was terrifying in its unwinking glare. The tufted ears, laid back
close along the head, gave the face an extraordinary evil look. Its
entire body clung to the carcass of the deer, as if to proclaim its
ownership of t