Clearwater Republican. [volume] (Orofino, Idaho) 1912-1922, 1918-02-22
CHAPTER XIII.
Always Two by Two,

Always Two by Two.
1t was January when guide from
the post brought Paul Weyman to
Henri Lofts cabin Oh the WaterfOund.
1T is D. strange" said Henri.
Il have lost seven lynx in the traps,
torn to pieces like they were no more
than rabbits that the foxes had killed.
No thing-nOt even bear-have ever
tackled lynx in trap before. 1t is
the first time ever see It,"
This aroused Weyman. He was one
of that growing number Of thoughtful
men who believed that mans egoism,
as a race, blinds him to many of the
more wonderful facts of creation.
"There is one big wolf an one small
ler," said Henri. "An' 1t is always
the big wolf who goes in an fights
the lynx. I see that by the snow.
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. 1t jumps in an helps
tear it 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 day passed
that somewhere along Henri's trap-line
they did not see the trails of the two
wolves, and Weyman observed that
as Henri had told him-the footprints
were always two by two, and never
one by one. On the third day they
came to trap that had held a 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 that 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 rea-
son.
Why did the two wolves not destroy
the fisher-cat, the ermine and the mar
ten? Why was their feud with tho
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 two marauders, he shud-
dered, and when, day after day, he
saw that these poison bats were un-
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 windfali 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.
1--WE got heem-sure" he said.
He built the bait-house, set trap
and looked about him shrewdly Then
he explained his scheme to Weyman.
If the lynx was caught, and the two
wolves came to destroy it, the fight
would take place in that shelter under
the windfali, 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 bait-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 ill.," said
Henri. He miss one, two, t'ree-but
he sure get In trap somewhere
That same morning u light snow fell,
making the work more complete, for
1t covered up all footprints and buried
the telltale scent of man. That night
Kazan and Gray Wolf passed within
hundred feet of the windfall and Gray
VOLTS keen scent detected something
StA0ASC uuu utS4uictluS Lie tlf. NHc
informed kazan by pressing her Shout
der against his. and they swung of
at right angles, keeping to windwurd
Of the trap-line.
For two days and three cold starlit
nights nothing happened at the wind
fall. Henri understood, and explained
to Weyman. The lynx was hunter,
like himself, and also had its hunt-line,
which 1t 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 were travelling a quarter Of
a mile deeper in the forest when they
heard the clanking Of the steel chain
as the lynx fought to free itself. Ten
minutes later they stood In the door
of the windfall cavern.
1t was white clear night, 30 filed
with brilliant stars that Henri himself
could have hunted by the light Of them.
The lynx had exhausted Itself, and
lay ornnrhoI an lto haIIu K.v.,~