His claws enlarged the hole and when the victim ceased from exhaustion, the fisher made a forward dash and changed his hold from the tender nose to the still more tender throat of the porcupine.

His hold was not deep enough and square enough to seize the windpipe, but he held on.

For a minute or two the struggles of Kahk were of desperate energy and its lashing tail began to be short of spines, but a red stream trickling from the wound was sapping its strength.
Protected by the log, the fisher had but to hold on and play a waiting game.
The heaving and backward pulling of Kahk were very feeble at length; the fisher had nearly finished the fight.

But he was impatient of further delay and backing out of the hole he mounted the log, displaying a much scratched nose; then reaching down with deft paw, near the quill-pig's shoulder, he gave a sudden jerk that threw the former over on its back, and before it could recover, the fisher's jaws closed on its ribs, and crushed and tore.

The nerveless, almost quilless tail could not harm him there.