Chickaloon Wild by Ingrid Shaginoff

Author:Ingrid Shaginoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Publication Consultants

Chapter 19

Watching for Wolves

While Burt reset the snare, Mary kept scanning the tree line to make sure that the wolves weren’t sneaking up on them. The next set was only a short distance away through the trees along the riverbank. It was empty so they left it undisturbed and the pair continued on. The next set had a dliigi (squirrel) which was added to the pack with the rabbit. Squirrel meat was not usually eaten by this family, but the pelt would bring about ten cents. Donald and Jimmy had their own trapline across the river for squirrels.

A few more traps yielded nothing, but finally as Burt scrambled down the bank along the river he could see a large gray shape move behind a big log where he had a trap. He stopped and stood totally still, the only movement his breath. It puffed out in soft clouds around his face, building up a thick white layer of frost on the fur trim of his hood, as well as on the shock of black hair that fell over his forehead.

Tikaani (Wolf). Oh no. Where are the others? How many are here? His mind raced as his heart hammered in fear. He felt sick with dread as stories of trappers and hunters being tracked and eaten by wolves flashed through his mind.

Then he heard his mother’s quiet voice commanding, “Ts’ii.” (Sit down.) He obeyed immediately and within seconds heard the boom of the rifle as the acrid smell of gunpowder filled the air. He sensed rather than saw the animal fall to the ground. Mary quickly ejected the spent shell and smoothly dropped another cartridge into the gun chamber. With a quick snap the rifle was ready to fire.

“Wait here,” Mary instructed as she moved noiselessly across the snow, angling away from the log, so as to be able to see behind it without approaching directly. Mary walked with the gun against her shoulder ready to fire. Soon she stopped and lowered the barrel of the gun and smiling called to Burt, “’Aani.” (Come here).

“Is there just one, Mama? What about the others?” Burt fidgeted as he strained to see behind the log. Realizing that Burt thought she had shot a wolf, Mary quickly assured him it was not a wolf. There behind the log lay a big niduuyi (lynx).

Burt’s eyes widened in surprise as he leaned over to inspect the big cat. He saw that it was only caught in the trap by two toes. “Mama,” he started with wonder and surprise in his voice, “it must have just gotten into the trap because one good jump and it would have pulled loose. Do you think it would have pulled its toes right off to get free?” he asked, still in awe that there was a real lynx lying dead in his trap. The Chickaloon area was thick with lynx but Burt had never caught one because his traps were too small for such a large animal.

Mary helped Burt pull the huge cat from the trap and together they dragged it back up the snow covered bank to the trail.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.