phant, came clacking past between the ranked tree-boles, stopping a
moment to straddle a sapling and browse; while the wolverine, sitting
motionless and wide-legged, watched him. Once a lynx, with its
eternal, set grin, floated by, half-seen, half-guessed, as if a wisp of
wood mist had broken loose and was floating about. Once a fox,
somewhere in the utter silence of the forest depths, barked a hoarse,
sharp, malicious sound; and once, hoarser still and very hollowly, a
great horned owl hooted with disconcerting suddenness. (The scream of
a rabbit followed these two, but whether fox or owl had been in at that
killing the wolverine never knew.) Twice a wood-hare turning now to
match the whiteness of its surroundings, finicked up one of the still,
silent forest lanes towards him, stopped, faced half-round, sat
"frozen" for a fraction, and vanished as if it were a puff of
wind-caught snow. (And, really, one had no idea till now that the
always apparently lifeless forest could have been so full of life in
the dark hours.)

But all these things made no difference to the wolverine, to Gulo,
though he "froze" with habitual care to watch them--for your wild
creature rarely takes chances. Details must never be overlooked in the
wild. He dug on, and in digging came right to the _cache_, roofed and
anchored all down, safe beyond any invasion, with tree-trunks.
And--and, mark you, not being able to pull tree-trunks out of the
ground, and being too large to squeeze between them, he gnawed through
one! Gnawed through it, he did, and came down to the bazaar below.

So far, he had been only beast. Now we see why I said he had more
brains than were good for any animal except man.

He bit through the canvas, or whatever it was that protected the
_cached_ articles. He got his head inside. He felt about
purposefully, and backed out, dragging a trap with him. With it he
removed into the inky shadows, and it was never found again.

He returned. He thrust his head in a second time, got hold of
something, and backed out. It was another trap, and with it he
vanished also; and it, too, was never found. He returned, and went,
and a third trap went with him.

The fourth investigation revealed an ax. It he partly buried. The
fifth yielded a bag of flour, which he tore up and scattered all over
the place. The sixth inroad produced a haunch of venison, off which he
dined. The seventh showed another haunch, and this he buried s