We traced the paw-marks from the mouth of his tent in a direct line across to the girl’s, but nowhere else about the Camp was there a sign of the strange visitor. The deer, dog, or whatever it was that had twice favoured us with a visit in the night, had confined its attentions to these two tents. And, after all, there was really nothing out of the way about these visits of an unknown animal, for although our own island was destitute of life, we were in the heart of a wilderness, and the mainland and larger islands must be swarming with all kinds of four-footed creatures, and no very prolonged swimming was necessary to reach us. In any other country it would not have caused a moment’s interest—interest of the kind we felt, that is. In our Canadian camps the bears were forever grunting about among the provision bags at night, porcupines scratching unceasingly, and chipmunks scuttling over everything.
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