ve been of no avail. Presently the sable retired to
a distance, and I thought would have discovered us, but at that moment
it made a dash at the nose of the porcupine, who, whisking round its
tail in an extraordinary fashion, sent a shower of darts into the body
of its opponent. This did not, however, prevent the latter from seizing
it with its sharp teeth and dragging it to the ground.

"Now is our time," whispered Uncle Denis, putting down his rifle and
unstrapping his blanket, and I imitating his example, we rushed forward
and threw them over the two combatants. The sable, however, managed to
spring out, when the dogs gave chase, but we were too much occupied to
see with what result. The porcupine in its struggles whisked about its
tail, sending several of its quills through the blanket, but the rest of
its body being unarmed, we managed to press it down until we had tied
the blanket tightly round it. Having secured the urson in a way which
made its escape impossible, we turned our attention to the sable, which
the dogs had brought to bay, but the brave little creature was becoming
faint, from the wounds inflicted on it from the porcupine's tail, the
quills from which were sticking out all over one side of its body.
Seeing that there was no other way of capturing it, I picked up a stick
and dealt it a blow on the head, sufficient to stun it, but not to
deprive it of life. While I kept back the dogs, Uncle Denis, kneeling
down, pulled out the quills, and then throwing my blanket over the
animal, he secured it as we had done the urson. It seemed very
doubtful, however, whether it would revive, but my uncle said that he
would take it home, and should it recover, would try, with gentle
treatment, to tame its fierce spirit. To carry our unusual prizes, we
formed a long pole from a sapling, to which we secured the creatures
side by side. Placing the pole on our shoulders, we began our homeward
march. We had the best part of the day before us, and hoped to reach
the farm before dark. The urson, weighed heavily, and sometimes it made
a convulsive struggle and very nearly worked itself out of the blanket.
The sable for some time lay perfectly quiet, but at last we observed a
movement in the blanket, which gave us hopes that it was reviving, and
we had to put on additional fastenings lest it should escape. To make a
long story short, we at length arrived, pretty well tired with our heavy
burden. Our friends were so