Quietly and slowly they followed the trail, which was very plain, and found that only about twenty or thirty steps from the place where the animal had been shot at, it had stopped and lain in the snow for some time, and that in this bed was a drop or two of blood. Apparently one of the shots that Hugh fired had grazed the skin somewhere.
“Well, Hugh,” said Jack, “that beast isn’t much frightened and it may be anywhere about here. Let’s go ahead, as carefully and quietly as we can.”
From here the trail led into thick willows, where it wound about, and where, owing to the closeness of the willow stems, it was not easy to go quietly. Every few moments Hugh stopped and looked carefully about, and then went on a little farther. When he had followed the trail for a little more than a hundred yards, the tracks turned sharply to the right, and just as they turned to follow them, Hugh made a motion with his hand and stopped. Jack looked under Hugh’s arm, and there, not twenty yards away, saw the animal. A large spruce tree grew among the willows and at its foot was a little open place. The lynx, for such it was, was lying in the sun at the foot of this tree, and only its hips were visible.
Hugh motioned to Jack to shoot, but before the lad could do so, he was obliged to creep several yards to the left under the low-spreading branches of a willow. At last he got far enough to one side to see the animal’s body almost to the shoulders, and then fired, trying to send his ball as close to the tree as possible. At the report the animal gave a spring, and, falling back, stretched itself out in the snow. When Hugh and Jack went up to it they could see that it was a Canada lynx of the largest size, and as it lay there, its thick legs, and huge paws, armed with long, strong claws, gave it a more ferocious appearance than it was really entitled to.
Those paws were a marvel to Jack on account of their size, and the way in which they were armed, but when he took hold of the animal to lift it, he appreciated what Hugh had told him about its really small size, and realized that a great deal of its bulk was due to its long, loose fur.
Hugh took the lynx by the back of the neck and a few minutes brought them to the camp.
Joe was delighted with their capture, and confessed that he had never before seen an animal like this.
“Now, Hugh,” said Jack, “I want to skin this beast, that is, if you will give me the skin.”
“Sure,” replied Hugh, “I’ll give you my share in the skin. You killed it, and it seems to me it’s yours.”
“Yes,” said Jack, “I killed it, of course, since you gave me the shot, but by hunter’s law the skin belongs to you. Isn’t it true that the first shot that draws blood is entitled to half the meat and the hide?”