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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
97
II
THE
LYNX
A
huge
four-foot
basswood
had
gone
the
way
of
all
trees.
Death
had
been
generous--had
sent
the
three
warnings:
it
was
the
biggest
of
its
kind,
its
children
were
grown
up,
it
was
hollow.
The
wintry
blast
that
sent
it
down
had
broken
it
across
and
revealed
a
great
hole
where
should
have
been
its
heart.
A
long
wooden
cavern
in
the
middle
of
a
sunny
opening,
it
now
lay,
and
presented
an
ideal
home
for
a
Lynx
when
she
sought
a
sheltered
nesting-place
for
her
coming
brood.
Old
was
she
and
gaunt,
for
this
was
a
year
of
hard
times
for
the
Lynxes.
A
Rabbit
plague
the
autumn
before
had
swept
away
their
main
support;
a
winter
of
deep
snow
and
sudden
crusts
had
killed
off
nearly
all
the
Partridges;
a
long
wet
spring
had
destroyed
the
few
growing
coveys
and
had
kept
the
ponds
and
streams
so
full
that
Fish
and
Frogs
were
safe
from
their
armed
paws,
and
this
mother
Lynx
fared
no
better
than
her
kind.
The
little
ones--half
starved
before
they
came--were
a
double
drain,
for
they
took
the
time
she
might
have
spent
in
hunting.
The
Northern
Hare
is
the
favorite
food
of
the
Lynx,
and
in
some
years
she
could
have
killed
fifty
in
one
day,
but
never
one
did
she
see
this
season.
The
plague
had
done
its
work
too
well.
One
day
she
caught
a
Red-squirrel
which
had
run
into
a
hollow
log
that
proved
a
trap.
Another
day
a
fetid
Blacksnake
was
her
only
food.
A
day
was
missed,
and
the
little
ones
whined
piteously
for
their
natural
food
and
failing
drink.
One
day
she
saw
a
large
black
animal
of
unpleasant
but
familiar
smell.
Swiftly
and
silently
she
sprang
to
make
attack.
She
struck
it
once
on
the
nose,
but
the
Porcupine
doubled
his
head
under,
his
tail
flew
up,
and
the
mother
Lynx
was
speared
in
a
dozen
places
with
the
little
stinging
javelins.
She
drew
them
all
with
her
teeth,
for
she
had
"learned
Porcupine"
years
before,
and
only
the
hard
push
of
want
would
have
made
her
strike
one
now.
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