begin, out of sight of any trailer, a new trail; or he may make a great
spring to gain a tree, and ascend it without even leaving the evidence
of freshly fallen bark. Then, too, he may climb from tree to tree, by
way of the interlocking branches, for a distance of a hundred paces or
more, all the while carrying the trap with him. Then, descending to
the ground, he may travel for a considerable distance before eventually
burying the trap. I have known him even leave a trap in a tree, but in
that case it was not done from design, for signs proved that the chain
had been caught upon a branch."

"How many wolverines," I asked, "do you suppose are causing all the
trouble on your and Amik's trapping paths?"

"Only one, my son, for even one wolverine can destroy traps and game
for twenty or thirty miles around; and the reason the brute is so
persistent in following a hunter's fur path is that it usually affords
the wolverine an abundance of food. Then, when the hunter finds the
brute is bent on steady mischief, it is time for him to turn from all
other work and hunt the thief. If at first steel traps fail, he may
build special deadfalls, often only as decoys round which to set,
unseen, more steel traps in wait for the marauder.

"If a hunter still fails, he may sit up all night in wait for the
robber, knowing that the more stormy the night, the better his chance
of shooting the brute. Sometimes, too, I have found a wolverine so
hard to catch that I have resorted to setting traps in the ashes of my
dead fires, or beneath the brush I have used for my bed, while camping
upon my trapping path." Then he added with a twinkle about his eye and
a shake of his finger: "But, my son, I have another way and I am going
to try it before the moon grows much older."