The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1917-09-20
Always Two by w

Il have lost seven lynx in the traps,
torn TO pieces like they We're no more
than rabbits that the foxes had killed.
No thing-not even bear-have ever
tackled lynx in a trap before. 1t is
the first time l ever see it,"
This aroused Weyman. He was one
of that growing number of thoughtful
men who believed that mans egoiSm,
as u race, blinds him TO many Of the
more wonderful facts of creation.
There is one big wolf an one small
ler," said Henri. An it is always
the big wolf who goes in an fights
the lynx. / see that by the
While he's fighting, the smaller wolf
makes many tracks in the snow just
out of reach, an then when the lynx
is down, or dead, it jumps In an helps
tear ii into pieces. All that | know
by the snow"
During the two weeks that followed,
Weyman found much to add to the
material Of his book. Not a day passed
that somewhere along Henri's trap-line
they did not see the trails of the two
wolves, and Weyman observed hat
as Henri had told him-the footprints
were always two by two, and never
n by one. On the third day they
came TO a trap that had held Il lynx,
and at sight of what remained Henri
cursed in both French and English
until he was purple in the face. The
lynx had been torn until its pelt was
practically worthless.
Weyman saw where the smaller wolf
had waited on its launches, while its
companion had killed the lynx. He
did not tell Henri all he thought. But
the days hat followed convinced him
more and more that he had found the
most dramatic eXemplification of his
theory. Back of this mysterious trag-
edy Of the trap-line there was a rea-
on.
Why did the two wolves not destroy
the fisher-cat, the errnine and the mar
ten? Why was their feud with the
lynx alone?
Weyman was strangely thrilled. He
was a lover of wild things, and for
that reason he never carried a gun.
And when he saw Henri placing poison
bats for the W marauderS, he shud-
dered. and when, day after day, he
saw that these poison bats were I'M
touched, he rejoiced. Something in his
own nature went out in sympathy to
the heroic outlaw of the trap-line who
never failed TO give battle to the lynx.
Nights in the cabin he wrote down his
thoughts and discoveries of the day.
One day the big idea came to Henri.
Weyman was with him when they
struck fresh signs of lynx. There was
q great Windfall ten or fifteen feet
high, and In one place the logs had
formed a sort of cavern, with almost
solid walls on three sides. The snow
was beaten down by tracks, and the
fur of rabbit was scattered about.
Henri was jubilant.
I'VE got heem-sure !" he said.
He built the bait-hOuse, set a trap
and looked about him shrewdly. Then
he explained his scheme to Weyman.
If the lynx was caught, and the two
WIVES CulIlt u utSlIOy II, llIt lSlll
would take place in that shelter under
the windfall, and the marauders would
have to pass through the opening. SO
Henri set five smaller traps, conceal
ing them skillfully under leaves and
moss and snow, and all were far
enough away from the b~ait-house so
that the trapped lynx could not spring
them in his struggles.
"When they fight. wolf jump this
way an that-an' sure get in said
Henri. "He miss II two, tree-but
he sure get in trap somewhere
That same morning n light snow fell,
making the work more complete, for
it covered up all footprints and buried
the ~telltale scent of man. That night
Kazan and Gray Wolf passed within Il
hundred feet of the %windfall, and Gray
VOLTS keen scent detected something
strange and disquieting in the air. She
informed Kazan by pressing her shout
der against his, and they swung off
at right angles, Keeping to windward
Of the trap-line.
For two days ara three cold starllt
nights nothing happened at the wind
fall. Henri understood, and explained
to Weyman. The lynx was q hunter,
like himself, and also had its hunt-line,
which ii covered about once a week.
On the fifth night the lynx returned,
went to the windfall, was lured
straight to the bait, and the sharp
toothed steel trap closed relentlessly
over its right hindfoot. kazan and
Gray Wolf We're travelling II quarter of
a mile deeper in the forest when they
heard the clanking of the steel chain
as the lynx fought to free itself. Ter
minutes later they stood in the door
of the windfall cavern,
1t was a white clear night, so filled
with brilliant stars that Henri himself
could have hunted by the light OF them.
The lynx bad exhausted itself, and
lay crouched on its belly as kazan
and Gray Wolf appeared. AS usual,
Gray Wolf held back while kazan be-
gan the battle. In the first or second
op tbaSn FIGHTS on tho fran-lipa kaZnn