second swung by the tail, the third crushed under
his heel, and the affair ended. Rolf had three muskrats and five cuts.
Quonab had much joy and Skookum a sense of lost opportunity.

"This we should paint on the wigwam," said Quonab. "Three great warriors
attacked one Sagamore. They were very brave, but he was Nibowaka and
very strong; he struck them down as the Thunderbird, Hurakan, strikes
the dead pines the fire has left on the hilltop against the sky. Now
shall you eat their hearts, for they were brave. My father told me a
fighting muskrat's heart is great medicine; for he seeks peace while it
is possible, then he turns and fights without fear."

A few days later, they sighted a fox. In order to have a joke on
Skookum, they put him on its track, and away he went, letting off his
joy-whoops at every jump. The men sat down to wait, knowing full well
that after an hour Skookum would come back with a long tongue and an
air of depression. But they were favoured with an unexpected view of
the chase. It showed a fox bounding over the snow, and not twenty yards
behind was their energetic four-legged colleague.

And, still more unexpected, the fox was overtaken in the next thicket,
shaken to limpness, and dragged to be dropped at Quonab's feet.
This glorious victory by Skookum was less surprising, when a closer
examination showed that the fox had been in a bad way. Through some sad,
sudden indiscretion, he had tackled a porcupine and paid the penalty.
His mouth, jaws and face, neck and legs, were bristling with quills. He
was sick and emaciated. He could not have lasted many days longer, and
Skookum's summary lynching was a blessing in disguise.

The trappers' usual routine was varied by a more important happening.
One day of deep snow in January, when they were running the northern
line on Racquet River, they camped for the night at their shelter
cabin, and were somewhat surprised at dusk to hear a loud challenge from
Skookum replied to by a human voice, and a short man with black whiskers
appeared. He raised one hand in token of friendliness and was invited to
come in.

He was a French Canadian from La Colle Mills. He had trapped here for
some years. The almost certainty of war between Canada and the States
had kept his usual companions away. So he had trapped alone, always a
dangerous business, and had gathered a lot of good fur, but had fallen
on the ice and hurt himself inwardly, so that he had no strength. He
cou