I asked him to explain, but he only laughed knowingly, so I turned the
subject by asking:

"Does an animal ever eat the bait after it is caught?"

"No, my son, no animal ever does that, not even if it be starving, but
it may eat snow to quench its thirst. Animals, however, do not often
starve to death when caught in traps, but if the weather be very
severe, they may freeze in a single night. If, however, the beast is
still alive when the hunter arrives, the prisoner will in most cases
feign death in the hope of getting free. That is true of most animals,
and, furthermore, it will feign death even when other animals approach;
but then, more often, its purpose is to secure the advantage of making
a sudden or surprise attack."

An Indian named Larzie, who was engaged to hunt meat for the priests at
Fort Resolution, once came upon a wolverine in one of his traps that
had done that very thing and won the battle, too. The snow, the trap,
and the carcass of a wolf, silently told Larzie every detail of the
fight. The wolverine, having been caught by the left hind leg, had
attempted by many means to escape, even trying to remove the nuts from
the steel trap with its teeth, as well as trying to break the steel
chain, and gnaw in two the wooden clog to which the trap was fastened.
But before accomplishing this, the wolverine had spied a pack of five
wolves approaching. In an effort to save its life the wolverine worked
itself down low in the snow and there lay, feigning death. The
cautious wolves, on sighting the wolverine, began circling about, each
time drawing a little nearer. Still suspicious, they sat down to watch
the wolverine for a while. Then they circled again, sat down once