For a brief instant I was filled with dread for fear the creature was waiting close at hand to resume the attack, and then, the humor of the situation dawning upon me, I roared with laughter until tears filled my eyes.
My bow was close at hand, where it had dropped from the tree, my snow-shoes were lying half buried in the snow, and my various other possessions were scattered about, but not a sign of the lynx could I see. But as I rose and started to gather up my belongings I saw drops of scarlet upon the snow beside the creature’s tracks. A little farther on I picked up the broken shaft of my arrow, covered with blood, and then I knew that my antagonist had not escaped unscathed.
For a few yards I followed the telltale blood-drops, until both the stains and tracks ended where the lynx had evidently taken to the trees. I was not sorry; I had had my fill of adventures for one day, and, turning on my tracks, I made my way back toward the cabin. How badly the lynx was wounded I could not tell. Perhaps it was merely a scratch from which he suffered little, or perchance the stone tip of my arrow buried itself in his vitals and caused his death. At any rate, he never troubled me again and his weird cry never disturbed my slumbers in the future. This being the case, I cared little whether through fright he had fled the country or whether he had slunk away to die within his den.
CHAPTER XIII
SPRING APPROACHES
For some time after my adventure with the lynx no event worth recording occurred and I led a humdrum, lonely life. I had much to be thankful for, however, for I had little difficulty in obtaining game. With the disappearance of the lynx I again resorted to traps. I was comfortably housed and I suffered little from the cold. No symptoms of smallpox had developed, my foot and ankle were as well and strong as ever, and I was in the best of health and condition.
There was little to be done save to hunt and trap, gather fire-wood, and sleep and eat. To occupy my time I made a large number of stone arrow-heads and numerous arrows, for I realized that I would lose and break many, and that when I finally started away in the spring I must be well provided with weapons.
I also tried fishing in the lake, cutting holes through the ice with my knife and spear, and setting lines which would raise a signal when there was a bite, as I had done when pickerel-fishing in my youth.
On these lines I used hooks of horn which I made by grinding down the forked portions of the deer’s antlers, where the prongs sprung from the main branches. It was tedious work, cutting these on the grindstone and with my knife, but the results more than repaid me for all the labor, for I caught a number of pickerel, several bass, and a few splendid lake-trout, and the fish proved a most welcome change of diet.
There were many heavy snowfalls during the winter, and had it not been for my snow-shoes I would have fared badly. Even as it was I was compelled to remain indoors for days at a time as the storms raged without, and by the time the days began to lengthen and the worst of the winter was over my hut was completely snowed under. Only the rude chimney and the tunnel-like entrance to my door were visible, but the deeper the snow piled around the cabin the warmer and more comfortable it was within.
But if the weather kept me much indoors I made good use of my time, and during the long winter I made many discoveries and accomplished many things which added wonderfully to my happiness and comfort.