ly answers yours,"
answered Mr Ross. "When a boy I often talked with old hunters who for
many years hunted ere they fired a gun. They killed partridges with
clubs, or with a noose on the end of a pole, as some of them can do yet,
as has already been seen. Then they had no difficulty in crawling up to
within a few feet of the deer or beavers."

"What about the more savage animals, such as the bears and wolves?"
asked Alec.

"As regards the bears, as the hides of the old fellows were hard to
pierce with arrows sufficient to give a mortal wound, the Indians
depended mostly on the hand-to-hand conflict with the knife or tomahawk.
With the wolves it was different. Before the guns were introduced the
Indians dreaded the encounters with the wolves more than any other
animals. It is true that they feared the fire as much then as now, but
the Indians suffered from many disadvantages. Steel axes were but few,
and very expensive. Now, armed with guns, behind a good fire, hunters
are comparatively safe. Then, the wolves patiently waited until the
limited wood supply was exhausted, and then closed in for the final
struggle. It was then teeth against tomahawks, and the chances were
more in favour of the wolves than now. Solitary hunters or single
families caught by a pack were frequently overpowered and devoured.
Climbing up into the trees afforded a temporary respite, as wolves
cannot, like bears, there follow their victims. But the wolves were
persistent besiegers, and woe to the unfortunate hunter who was thus
treed by them unless help was near. For days they would keep watch, day
and night, until the unfortunate one, chilled and benumbed by the bitter
cold, fell into their midst and was speedily devoured. In those days
the wolves were much more numerous than they are now, and more
courageous in their attacks on the wigwams or even small settlements of
the Indians. When distempers cut off the rabbits, or the deer were
scarce, the wolves were very audacious in their attacks.

"It was one winter when the cold was terrible and the snow unusually
deep that the sad tragedy came to the wigwam of Kinesasis. The reindeer
had not come down from the barren plains as usual that winter, and the
other animals generally hunted by the wolves were few and far between.
Some of the Indian hunters had had some very narrow escapes, and the
result was that very seldom did anyone venture far alone into his
hunting grounds. Kinesasis