carried another animal upon his back_!

The hunters could hardly believe their eyes, but there it was, sure
enough, a brown shaggy mass, lying flat along the shoulders of the
wapiti, and clutching it with large-spreading claws. Francois cried
out, "A panther!" and Basil at first believed it to be a bear, but it
was hardly large enough for that. Norman, however, who had lived more
in those parts where the animal is found, knew it at once to be the
dreaded "wolverene." Its head could not be seen, as that was hid behind
the shoulder of the wapiti, whose throat it was engaged in tearing. But
its short legs and broad paws, its busily tail and long shaggy hair,
together with its round-arching back and dark-brown colour, were all
familiar marks to the young fur-trader; and he at once pronounced it a
"wolverene."

When first seen, both it and the wapiti were beyond the reach of their
rifles; and the hunters, surprised by such an unexpected apparition, had
suddenly halted. Francois and Basil were about to renew the pursuit,
but were prevented by Norman who counselled them to remain where they
were.

"They won't go far," said he; "let us watch them a bit. See! the buck
takes the water!"

The wapiti, on leaving the willows, had run straight out in the first
direction that offered, which happened to be in a line parallel with the
edge of the lake. His eye, however, soon caught sight of the water,
and, doubling suddenly round, he made directly towards it, evidently
with the intention of plunging in. He had hopes, no doubt, that by this
means he might rid himself of the terrible creature that was clinging to
his shoulders, and tearing his throat to pieces.

A few bounds brought him to the shore. There was no beach at the spot.
The bank--a limestone bluff--rose steeply from the water's edge to a
height of eight feet, and the lake under it was several fathoms in
depth. The buck did not hesitate, but sprang outward and downwards. A
heavy plash followed, and for some seconds both wapiti and wolverene
were lost under the water. They rose to the surface, just as the boys
reached the bank, but they came up _separately_. The dip had proved a
cooler to the fierce wolverene; and while the wapiti was seen to strike
boldly out into the lake and swim off, the latter--evidently out of his
element--kept plunging about clumsily, and struggling to get back to the
shore. Their position upon the cliff above gave the hunters an
excel