ned, and presently he
entered the tepee, full of wrath over the havoc a wolverine had wrought
along his trapping path. The pelts of more dead game had been ruined;
deadfalls had been broken; and even some of his steel traps had been
carried away. There and then Oo-koo-hoo decided that he would drop all
other work and hunt the marauder.

For its size--being about three feet in length and from twelve to
eighteen inches high--the wolverine is an amazingly powerful creature.
In appearance it somewhat resembles a small brown bear. Though it is
not a fast traveller its home range may cover anywhere from five to
fifty miles. It feeds upon all sorts of small game, and has been known
to kill even deer. It mates about the end of March, dens in any
convenient earthen hole or rocky crevice or cave that may afford
suitable shelter; and it makes its bed of dry leaves, grass, or moss.
The young, which number from three to five, are born in June. Whenever
necessary, the mother strives desperately to protect her young, and is
so formidable a fighter that even though the hunter may be armed with a
gun, he runs considerable risk of being injured by the brute. It has
been known to take possession of the carcass even of a caribou and to
stand off the hunter who had just shot it. Also, it has been known to
drive a wolf, and even a bear, away from their quarry. The
superstitious Indian not only believes that the wolverine is possessed
of the devil--for it is the most destructive animal in the northern
world--but he considers it also to be endowed with great intelligence.
The wily Indian, however, knowing the animal's habit of trying to
destroy what it cannot carry away, takes advantage of that very fact
and hunts it accordingly.

All that has been said in relation to trapping the fox applies also to
_le Carcajou_--_i.e._, the wolverine--save that the trap chain should
be doubled, and everything else made stronger and heavier in proportion
to the wolverine's greater size and strength. That evening Oo-koo-hoo
talked much of wolverines.

"My son, no other animal surpasses it in devilish cunning. For it is
not content to merely spring a trap, but it will carry it away--more
often for a short distance, but sometimes for miles--and hide or bury
it. Later on the wolverine may visit it again, carry it still farther
away and bury it once more. The wolverine has good teeth for cutting
wood, and will sometimes free a trap from its clog b