supper out of the way the boys made themselves comfortable and gave alec the word to take up his yarn.
"to begin with," said alec, throwing a log on the fire, "when a trapper is thinking of going into new country he generally prospects it first, same as a prospector for gold, only he looks it over for signs of fur instead of for minerals. sometimes he does this in summer or early fall, and sometimes he does it in winter, planning for the next winter. friend o' mine went up into brunswick last winter, and looked over some country which never has been trapped to amount to anything and this year he's up there with a line over one hundred miles long."
"jerusalem! where did he stay nights when he was looking it over?" asked hal.
"wherever he happened to be," replied alec.
"didn't he have no tent nor nothin'?" sparrer was round eyed with wonder.
alec shook his head. "nothin' but a week's supply of grub, his axe, rifle and blanket. that's all any good woodsman needs."
"but was it as cold as it is now?" asked hal.
"colder, because that part of brunswick is consid'rable farther north. when night came he would just dig away the snow, build a fire and when the ground was het up move his fire back, lay some boughs down where the fire had been, make a little bough shelter over it, build a good big fire to reflect the heat, and turn in. sometimes when there's a big rock handy or an upturned tree we warm up a place a little way in front of that and then move the fire over against it and turn in without any shelter at all. more'n once i've slept in just a hole in the snow. tisn't so bad when you're used to it. have to get up a few times in the night to put wood on the fire, but that ain't nothin', is it, pat?"
"tis no more than a reminder av how good it is to shlape," returned pat.
"when a man's prospectin' for fur he not only looks for signs of the beasties but he looks the lay of the land over and gets the landmarks fixed in his mind," continued alec. "he picks out a place for his main camp, locating it where he can get his supplies and stuff in and his furs out at the end o' the season without too much difficulty. if it is in lumbered country he picks out a place that can be reached by some old trail with a little clearing out so that a team can get in. more often, though, he locates on a river where he can get his stuff in by canoe, and can get out again the same way in the spring.
"at the same time he tries to choose a location that will be to his best advantage in working his trap lines. if he's got a long line laid out he also picks out likely places for temporary camps, places handy to springs and fire-wood. early in the fall he gets his stuff together and goes in to build his camps. trappers mostly work in pairs, but sometimes one goes it alone like my friend up in brunswick. he took his traps an' stuff in in september, so's to get his camps built and be ready for bus'ness as soon as fur got prime."
"can one man build a log cabin without any help?" asked walter.
"sure," replied pat, "if he's reasonably husky, and most woodsmen are. a smart axeman can roll one up in four days, but of course it's easier and quicker if there are two."
"the main camp is made stout and comfortable as possible, same as 'tis here, only usually 'tis no so big." alec resumed the thread of his story. "the other camps are just big enough for a bunk an' to cache some supplies, and are one to two days' journey apart, accordin' to the country. in good weather a feller disna mind sleeping oot one night between camps if he must, though he disna aim to if he can help it. a few supplies are left in each camp, and fire-wood cut and left handy. when this work is done it's usually 'bout time to be gettin' after the critters.
"a long line is usually planned on a sort of loop when the country will permit, so that the trapper may go out one way and return another. when two are trapping together, pardners like pat and me, one works the line one way and one the other. of course two can work a longer line than one can, and cover it the way it ought to be covered. i've put in more'n one winter alone, but ye ken it's michty satisfying to hae speech wi' some one once in a while. when i'm alone it gets so that i talk to the varmints just to hear a human voice, even though it be my own."
"i shouldn't think it would be safe for a man to be all alone for so long," upton interrupted.
"tisn't altogether safe," replied alec. "there was old bill bently. never was a better woodsman than old bill. he used to trap way up north of here. used to go it alone mostly, but one winter he took a pardner. lucky thing for bill he did. they had a long line that year and bill covered it one way and his pardner, big frank, covered it the other. they would meet at the upper end and then again at the main camp. well, one time big frank was a day late getting to the upper camp. a big bar had busted a swivel on a trap and gone off with the trap. took frank a whole day to catch up with him. when he got to the camp he expected to find bill waiting for him, but nary a sign of bill could he find.
"this wasn't su'prisin' considerin' his own luck, but somehow it made big frank uneasy. he hit the trail 'fore daylight the next morning and didna stop to look at traps, but just made tracks watching out for some sign of bill. long about noon he found him by a deadfall alongside of a bar. of course the critter was dead, and bill would have been if he had to lay there much longer. seems in resetting the deadfall the lever with which he was raising the 'fall' log broke, and somehow bill got one leg under it and there he was caught in his own trap and with a broken leg to boot. lucky for bill it was early in the season, or he would have frozen to death long 'fore frank got there. as it was he was in pretty bad shape. if he'd been trapping alone it would have been the end of him.
"but i'm getting off my story of how we catch fur. of course we have to have a number of sizes of traps. for muskrats we use no. 1; for mink no. 1 or no. 1-1/2. this is also big enough to hold fox, coon and fisher, but no. 2 is better. for marten we use mostly no. 1, but if there are signs of fisher or lynx we use no. 1-1/2 so if one happens to get into a trap it will hold him. these critters are so strong that they would pull out of the smaller trap."
"it's marten that you are after mostly, isn't it? i understood you to say that," upton interposed.
"we're after anything we can get, but most of our sets are for marten," returned alec. "in the fall we took a good many rats and will again in the spring, but at this time o' the year when everything is frozen 'tis only around spring holes that we can get a rat now and then since the law will no let us trap them at their houses. i dinna ken what these lawmakers want to meddle with a poor man's business for. so long as the rat is killed i dinna see what difference it makes where he's killed or how. we used to get good fur when it was no against the law to trap at the houses."
"walt, here's a subject for a little missionary work. alec is still an uncivilized savage in some things, especially when what he calls his rights to hunt and trap are concerned," pat broke in.
upton looked a bit puzzled. "i don't quite get the point about the house trapping," said he.
"you've seen muskrat houses a-plenty, haven't you?" asked pat.
walter nodded. "well," continued pat, "before this law was made trappers used to chop a hole in the side of a house and set a trap on the bed inside. of course this drove the rats out, but they would soon be back, because there was nowhere else to go. by visiting the traps night and morning it was no trick at all to get all the rats. now the law forbids this kind of trapping. alec here doesn't approve of the law. he thinks that there are rats enough and to spare and he can't see that that kind of work is cutting his own nose off and killing the goose that lays the golden egg. says you can clean all the rats out of a place and in time more will come to take their places, and i can't make him see it any different."
"how about beaver?" asked walter, turning to the scotchman. "nowhere near as plentiful as they used to be, are they?"
the trapper shook his head. "been trapped pretty near out of this country. i'm for protecting the beaver, all right, but rats is different. ye couldn't trap out all the rats in a million years. there's rats enough and there always will be."
"ever hear of the passenger pigeon?" asked upton.
alec signified that he never had. "guess they dinna live in this country," he added.
"i guess they don't," replied upton drily. "fact is they don't live in any country any more. what is supposed to be the very last specimen died in captivity in cincinnati last year. a reward of several thousand dollars for proof of a single pair nesting anywhere in america has stood for several years. but the bird is believed to be absolutely extinct. and yet seventy-five years ago they were numbered by millions and extended over america from the atlantic to the rocky mountains. probably billions would be nearer the truth. the ornithologist wilson once watched a flock which he estimated to be a mile wide, moving at the rate of a mile a minute, and it took four hours to pass. allowing three birds to each square yard there must have been more than two billion birds in that one flock. in 1869 one town in michigan shipped to market in forty days almost twelve million birds. they were so plentiful that they sold as low as twelve cents a dozen and netters made money at that. when the first efforts to protect them were made they were fruitless because people said that the numbers were so great that it would be impossible ever to reduce them to a serious extent. and to-day there is not one living. it doesn't seem possible, but it is a cold, hard fact. and man alone is to blame.
"the same thing is happening right now with a lot of animals and birds. just as sure as that fire is burning fifty years will see a lot off them extinct unless they are better protected. the hunters of the pigeon didn't believe it any more than you believe it about the rats. on the level, alec, do you think it a square deal to take a rat in the only place he's got to stay in the winter?"
"oh, i'm not taking them that way," alec protested with some haste. "i believe in respecting the law, even if it is a fool law."
"but is it a fool law? i don't think so," said walter quietly. "in a boxing match it is a foul to hit a man when he's down."
"'tisn't in a lumberman's fight," alec broke in. "if a man's down so much the better. then you've got him. that's the thing to do—get him down and then do him good."
"aw say, youse don't mean that!" sparrer's eyes were round with indignation, for even a street gamin has better ethics than this.
"it's the way they fight up here, sparrer, i'm sorry to say," said pat. "in a rough and tumble fight here they kick, bite and gouge, and you may well pity the under man. but they're learning better."
"would you hit a man who was bound and helpless?" asked walter quickly.
"certainly not!" cried alec indignantly. "that's different."
"not so very different from your rats in their houses," protested upton. "they come pretty near to being helpless. besides, they have no reason to suspect harm there, and they don't. put it up to any scout and he'd say right off the reel that it is unfair, and that is something that no scout will stand for. but this is nothing to do with marten. you were saying, alec, that you trap for marten, mostly."
"aye," replied alec, rather glad to have the subject changed, if the truth were known. "and it's the prettiest and most comfortable kind of trapping in the winter. ye see the beasties are found in heavy timber and broken country, and that gives the trapper more protection from cold and storms. then the beasties are no so hard to trap as some others. when ye find marten sign ye may be pretty sure that the critter will be along there again. they live on mice, rabbits, birds and squirrels. fish makes good bait. when the snows are not too heavy i build a little cubby, a pen, ye ken, of sticks, at the foot of a big tree, the tree forming the back, and roof it over with evergreen branches to keep out the snow. on a little bed of boughs i set the trap just inside the opening of the cubby and cover it lightly with tips of evergreen. the bait is placed on a stick at the back of the cubby. i hang a couple of boughs partly over the opening so that if whiskey jack happens along he won't see the bait and steal it."
here pat interrupted to explain for sparrer's benefit that a whiskey jack is the common name in the north for the canada jay.
"i shouldn't think the marten could get his peepers on the bait, then," said sparrer.
"he disna need to, laddie," replied alec. "his nose finds it for him. another set which i like and use a good deal is this. i cut a small spruce of about four inches through so as to leave a stump about two feet above the snow. in the top of this i cut a v or crotch, and after trimming off the lower limbs of the tree i rest it in this crotch so that the butt end projects some distance and is three or four feet above the snow. about a foot from the butt end i flatten off a place for the trap and tie it in place with a bit of string and loop the chain around the trunk of the tree. then i make a split in the end of the butt and in this fasten the bait. mr. marten runs up the tree to get the bait, steps in the trap and falls off and hangs there. he can't twist a foot off or pull free in any way. once he steps in the trap he's a goner.
"deadfalls work pretty well with marten. ye'll have a chance to see some, as i've got some right handy here, in some draws off the hollow. ye'll understand them better by seeing than by me trying to tell you about them."
"how about otter?" asked hal.
"steel traps for them, and we have to be some pertic'lar how we set 'em. there's nary a critter that i know of more suspicious of man," replied alec. "in the fall and spring we get 'em with water sets. i got one this fall up at one of the beaver dams. i cut a hole in the middle of the dam so that the run-off from the pond was all through this but not enough to lower the pond and bring the beavers to stop up the hole. i made the passage only eight or nine inches wide and set the trap in the water at the upper end. the first otter to come along tried to go through that opening and i had him. sometimes when we find a point of land running out into a lake or big stream we'll find an otter trail across it where the critter has taken a short cut. then we set a trap in the water at one end. water sets are best, because there is no human scent. in the winter we set under the ice, and i'll show you a couple of sets of that kind before you go back."
"and foxes?" prompted upton.
alec grinned. "they're worse than otter," he confessed. "ye think ye ken all about the critters, and then ye meet up with one that just gives ye the laugh, like the silver that's hanging around here. i've tried every set i know of for that feller, but he's still grinning at me. and this crust ain't going to help matters any. it's bad enough in dry snow, but with a crust there won't be anything doing. in the fall i use water sets where i can. one of the best is at a shallow spring, four or five feet across. about a foot and a half from the shore put a moss-covered stone, or a sod, so that it will come just above the level of the water. half-way between this and the shore set the trap, covering the jaws, springs and chain with mud or wet leaves from the bottom. the pan should be just under water and on this place a little piece of moss or sod so that it will come an inch above the water. on the outer stone or sod put a small piece of bait and a little scent. mr. fox comes along, smells the bait and promptly investigates. he disna like to wet his feet, and the bit of covering on the pan of the trap looks like a good stepping-place. then you have him.
"ye must take care to leave everything in a perfectly natural state. i wade up the outlet and take care not to touch the banks. some trappers boil the traps in hemlock boughs to kill the scent. others just leave them over night in running water. i wear clean gloves to handle the traps. there are a lot of dry sets, some with bait and some without, the latter being used in frequented runways. a very good set is to find an old moss-covered log or stump and set the trap on the highest point, covering it so that the whole thing looks just as it did before. then toss a big bait like a muskrat or rabbit eight or ten feet from it. mr. fox is always suspicious, and before he goes too near anything like that he will go to the highest point to look the ground over. that's when ye get him. of course, there mustn't be any other high point for him to get on."
"you spoke of scents, alec. i've read about them. what are they, anyhow?" asked upton.
for answer, alec got up and went to a corner of the cabin and brought forth an old fruit jar. pat grinned. "here's some," said alec simply as he unscrewed the cover while the boys crowded around. they took one whiff and then fairly tumbled over each other to get away.
"cover it up! take it away!" howled hal, holding his nose. "i won't be able to eat a square meal for a week."
"me too!" yelped sparrer. "dey has some awful smells in new york, but dis is de limit."
"jumping crickets! i should think that stuff would drive things away and not attract 'em!" exclaimed upton. "what is it, anyhow?"
"skunk fat and mice cut up and put in the jar and hung in the sun until thoroughly rotted, and then some skunk and muskrat scent added. sorry you don't like it," replied pat. "a drop or two judiciously used seems to be a great attraction for foxes and some other critters. alec has got another brand if you would like to sample it—fish oil made by cutting up fish and letting them rot in the same way. it's a mighty good scent."
"no, thanks!" cried hal hastily. "we'll take your word for it. what about those stretching boards?"
"i'm coming to that," replied alec. "raw furs are handled in two ways, 'cased' and 'open.' mink, marten, fox, fisher, weasel, muskrat, skunk and bob cat are 'cased.' that is what these boards are for. we skin 'em by cutting loose around the feet and then cutting down the back of the hindlegs to and around the vent and then skin the hindlegs carefully, and also the tail. then the skin is turned back and stripped off the body wrong side out to the ears, taking as little fat as possible. the ears are cut off close to the head, and the skin is cut loose around the eyes and nose. the easiest way is to hang the critter up by the hindlegs after skinning out these and the tail.
"these small boards pat and i are making are for muskrats in the spring. for marten, mink, otter, fisher and such like we use longer, narrower boards; that is, they are narrower in proportion to their length. i'll show you some presently. the best boards are those with a narrow strip ripped out of the middle for the whole length. this makes a wedge or tongue. of course it should be tapered. this makes it possible to use the board for various size animals and to stretch the skin to its fullest extent. it also makes it easy to remove a skin from the board, as taking out the wedge at once loosens the whole board.
"the skins are put on the stretchers fur side in. then with a blunt knife they are fleshed. that is, they are scraped clean of every particle of fat and flesh. then they are stretched to their fullest extent and put to dry or cure in a cool, airy place. as soon as dry enough to prevent shrinking or wrinkling they are taken from the boards. lynx and fox are then turned fur side out, but the others are left as they are.
"beaver, coon, bear, wolf and badger are skinned 'open.' that means that a cut is made from the point of the jaw straight down the belly to the vent. a cut is made down the inside of the forelegs across the breast to the point of the brisket and another down the back of the hindlegs. big animals like bars, wolves and wolverines should be skinned out to the ends of their toes and have the feet left on. these skins are stretched flat, a coon nearly square, a beaver round, and others to their natural shape. the best way is by lacing them with twine in a frame. many trappers lose money by careless handling of the furs. all dirt, blood and lumps should be carefully removed. lots of skins, prime when caught, grade way down because of careless handling. now i guess you chaps have got your fill of furs. what about to-morrow? it's christmas, ye ken."
"that's so, and it will be the queerest christmas i ever have spent," said hal thoughtfully. "we ought to celebrate, somehow. what's the program, pat?"
"how about a rabbit hunt in the morning, a big dinner and a shooting-match in the afternoon?" replied pat.
"bully!" cried all three together.
"what's the matter with a christmas tree in the evening?" added upton. "we ought to do something christmasy."
"i was going to suggest that very thing," retorted hal. "we'll make it the greatest christmas this old hollow ever saw. now, let's turn in. i want to be out for those rabbits right early. by the way, alec, i hope there's some of that venison left for the big feast."
"dinna ye worry, laddie. i hae saved a roast special," replied alec as he prepared things for the night.
