we say in the Far West. Eagerly I bent over it. Its genial
warmth imparted new life to my chilled limbs and body. Then, sitting
down with my feet so close that I almost singed my stockings, I
gradually thawed my shoes. How comfortable they felt when I again put
them on!

I now began to feel the pangs of hunger, for I had taken nothing since
the previous morning. Food I must have at all costs. I even glanced at
my poor horse with wolfish eyes.

"I must eat it, if I can get nothing else," I said to myself; but then
again I thought, "By what means shall I reach the fort? I cannot trudge
on foot all the distance through the deep snow. I must let my horse
live. It would sorely grieve me to have to kill him."

Thoroughly warmed, I got up with the intention of pushing into the wood
and trying to knock over some bird or small beast. There were few young
birds at that season not well able to fly out of my way, and the animals
of the forest were likely to have been driven under shelter by the
snowstorm.

I still had the stick which had served me to mount the hill and make my
way over the snow. I had left my pistols in my holsters. I mention
this to account for my not now having them. My only weapons, therefore,
were my long hunting-knife and this stout stick.

I was, I knew, more likely to find some animals deep in the wood than on
the borders, as they would have gone there for shelter. As I went along
I anxiously examined every tree I passed in search of birds or the
traces of squirrels or any other of the smaller inhabitants of the
woods.

Now and then a squirrel would look out of its hole, and on seeing me
would be off to the tree-top. Birds were rare, and being perfectly
silent at this season, their notes did not betray their whereabouts.
The evening was drawing on. I considered whether I could manage to set
any traps. It would take time to construct them, and I was starving.

As I wandered along, I found myself again near the borders of the wood
with a thick bush near me. At that moment I caught sight of an animal
of nearly three feet in length, which I at once recognised as a
"peeshoo," as the French Canadians call it, though properly denominated
the Canadian lynx. Its fur was of a dark grey, freckled with black. It
had powerful limbs, and thick, heavily-made feet. It was still when I
first caught sight of it, but presently it commenced a succession of
bounds with its back slightly arched, all t