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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of With Trapper Jim in the North Woods, by 
+Lawrence J. Leslie
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: With Trapper Jim in the North Woods
+
+Author: Lawrence J. Leslie
+
+Posting Date: November 3, 2011 [EBook #9649]
+Release Date: January, 2006
+First Posted: October 13, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WITH TRAPPER JIM IN NORTH WOODS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, David Garcia
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      THE CAMPFIRE AND TRAIL SERIES
+                   WITH TRAPPER JIM IN THE NORTH WOODS
+
+                          BY LAWRENCE J. LESLIE
+
+                                  1913
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER
+
+I.    WHAT LUCK DID FOR THE CHUMS
+
+II.   HOW POOR TOBY WAS "RESCUED"
+
+III.  WHAT WOODCRAFT MEANT
+
+IV.   THE SECRETS OF TRAPPING
+
+V.    WHAT CAME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
+
+VI.   STEVE STARTS GAME
+
+VII.  THE UNWELCOME GUEST
+
+VIII. SMOKING THE INTRUDER OUT
+
+IX.   BEFORE THE BLAZING LOGS
+
+X.    THE TRAIL OF THE CLOG
+
+XI.   "STEADY, STEVE, STEADY!"
+
+XII.  THE END OF A THIEF
+
+XIII. A GLIMPSE OF THE SILVER FOX
+
+XIV.  THE PURSUIT
+
+XV.   GLORIOUS NEWS
+
+XVI.  SURPRISING BRUIN--Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+WITH TRAPPER JIM IN THE NORTH WOODS.
+
+
+[Illustration: "THE SILVER FOX!"]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+WHAT LUCK DID FOR THE CHUMS.
+
+
+"It was a long trip, fellows, but we're here at last, thank goodness!"
+
+"Yes, away up in the North Woods, at the hunting lodge of Trapper Jim!"
+
+"Say, it's hard to believe, and that's a fact. What do you say about it,
+you old stutterer, Toby Jucklin?"
+
+"B-b-bully!" exploded the boy, whose broad shoulders, encased in a blue
+flannel shirt, had been pounded when this question was put directly at
+him.
+
+There were five of them, half-grown boys all, lounging about in the most
+comfortable fashion they could imagine in the log cabin which Old Jim
+Ruggles occupied every fall and winter.
+
+"Trapper Jim" they called him, and these boys from Carson had long been
+yearning to accept the hearty invitation given to spend a week or two
+with the veteran woodsman. A year or so back Jim had dropped down to see
+his brother Alfred, who was a retired lawyer living in their home town.
+And it was at this time they first found themselves drawn toward Jim
+Ruggles.
+
+When he heard of several little camping experiences which had befallen
+Toby Jucklin and his chums, the trapper had struck up a warm friendship
+with the boy who seemed to be the natural leader of the lot, Max
+Hastings.
+
+Well, they had been writing back and forth this long time. Eagerly had
+the boys planned a visit to the North Woods, and bent all their energies
+toward accomplishing that result.
+
+And now, at last, they found themselves under the shelter of the roof
+that topped Old Jim's cabin. Their dreams had come true, so that several
+weeks of delightful experiences in the great Northern forest lay before
+them.
+
+Besides Toby Jucklin, who stuttered violently at times, and Max Hastings,
+who had had considerable previous experience in outdoor life, there were
+Steve Dowdy, whose quick temper and readiness to act without considering
+the consequences had long since gained him the name of "Touch-and-Go
+Steve"; Owen Hastings, a cousin to Max, and who, being a great reader,
+knew more or less about the theory of things; and last, but not least, a
+boy who went by the singular name of "Bandy-legs" Griffin.
+
+At home and in school they called him Clarence; but his comrades, just as
+all boys will do, early in his life seized upon the fact of his lower
+limbs being unusually short to dub him "Bandy-legs."
+
+Strange to say, the Griffin lad never seemed to show the least resentment
+in connection with this queer nickname. If the truth were told, he really
+preferred having it, spoken by boyish lips, than to receive that detested
+name of Clarence.
+
+These five boys had come together with the idea of having a good time in
+the great outdoors during vacation days.
+
+And Fortune had been very kind to them right in the start. Although Max
+always declared that it was some remark of his cousin that put him on the
+track, and Owen on his part vowed that the glory must rest with Max
+alone, still the fact remained that once the idea popped up it was
+eagerly seized upon by both boys.
+
+They needed more or less cash with which to purchase tents, guns, and
+such other things as appeal to boys who yearn to camp out, fish, hunt,
+and enjoy the experiences of outdoor life.
+
+As the Glorious Fourth had exhausted their savings banks, this bright
+idea was hailed with more or less glee by the other three members of the
+club.
+
+It was not an original plan, but that mattered nothing. Success was what
+they sought, and to attain it the boys were quite willing to follow any
+old beaten path.
+
+An account of valuable pearls being found in mussels that were picked up
+along certain streams located in Indiana, Arkansas, and other states,
+suggested the possibility of like treasures near at home.
+
+Now, Carson, their native town, lay upon the Evergreen River; and this
+stream had two branches, called the Big Sunflower and the Elder. The boys
+knew that there were hundreds of mussels to be found up the former
+stream. They had seen the shells left by hungry muskrats, and even
+gathered a few to admire the rainbow-hued inside coating, which Owen told
+them was used in the manufacture of pearl buttons.
+
+But up to that time no one apparently had dreamed that there might be a
+snug little fortune awaiting the party who just started in to gather the
+mussels along the Big Sunflower.
+
+This Max and his chums had done. Their success had created quite an
+excitement around Carson.
+
+When it was learned what was going on, farm hands deserted their daily
+tasks; boys quit loafing away the vacation days, and even some of those
+who toiled in the factories were missing from their looms.
+
+Everybody hunted for pearls. The little Big Sunflower never saw such
+goings on. They combed its waters over every rod of the whole mile where
+the fresh-water clams seemed to exist.
+
+When the furor was over, and there were hardly half a hundred wretched
+mussels left in the waters that had once upon a time fairly teemed with
+them, the results were very disappointing.
+
+Two or three small pearls had been found, it is true, but the majority of
+the seekers had to be satisfied with steamed mussels, or fresh-water clam
+chowder, as a reward for their hard work.
+
+The wide-awake boys who first conceived the idea had taken the cream of
+the pickings. And from a portion of the money secured through the sale of
+these beautiful pearls they had purchased everything needed to fill the
+heart of a camper with delight.
+
+Here, as the afternoon sun headed down toward the western horizon, the
+boys, having arrived by way of a buckboard wagon at noon, were looking
+into the flames of Trapper Jim's big fire in the log cabin, and mentally
+shaking hands with each other in mutual congratulation over their good
+fortune.
+
+There was a decided tang of frost in the air, which told that the summer
+season was gone and early fall arrived.
+
+It might seem strange that these boys, who in October might be expected
+to be deep in the fall school term, should be away from home and up in
+the wilderness.
+
+That was where Good Luck remembered them again, and the explanation is
+simple enough.
+
+Even in the well-managed town of Carson, school directors sometimes
+neglected their work. And in this year, when the vacation period was
+three quarters over, the discovery was made that the big building was in
+such a bad condition that certain extensive repairs would have to be
+made.
+
+In consequence, greatly to the delight of the older scholars, it was
+decided that school for them could not take up until the middle of
+November.
+
+As soon as Max learned of this delightful fact he knew the time had come
+for their long-promised visit to Trapper Jim.
+
+They had been tempted to go during the summer months, but as there was
+little to do in the woods at that period of the year save fishing, the
+boys had been holding off.
+
+Now they could expect to use their guns; to see how Jim set his cunning
+traps that netted him such rich rewards each winter season, and to enjoy
+to the full that most glorious time of the whole year in the woods, the
+autumn season, when the leaves are colored by the early frosts and the
+first ice forms on the shores of the little trout streams.
+
+As the afternoon passed they recovered from the effects of the long
+railroad journey overnight and the joggling buckboard experience. A
+thousand questions had been fired at Jim, who was a good-humored old
+fellow with a great love for boys in his heart.
+
+"Take things kind of easy to-day, boys," he kept on saying, when they
+wanted to know why he didn't get busy and show them all the wonderful
+things he had in store for his lively young visitors. "I want you to rest
+up and be in good trim for to-morrow. Plenty of time to begin work then.
+Knock around and see what it looks like where Old Jim has had his hunting
+lodge this seven years back."
+
+So they did busy themselves prying into things. And between that hour and
+dark there were very few spots around the immediate neighborhood that
+they had not examined.
+
+Jim's stock of well-kept Victor steel traps were commented on, and
+stories listened to in connection with this one or that. No wonder the
+hunting instinct in the lads was pretty well aroused by the time they had
+heard some of these stirring accounts.
+
+"If the whole bunch of traps could only talk, now," declared Owen, as he
+handled a big one meant for bear, "wouldn't they make the shivers run up
+and down our backbones, though?"
+
+Trapper Jim only smiled.
+
+He had a thousand things to tell the boys, but, of course, he did not
+want to exhaust the subject in the beginning. By degrees they should hear
+all about his many adventures. It would be his daily pleasures
+to thrill his boy visitors with these truthful stories as they gathered
+each night around the roaring fire and rested after the day's work.
+
+The shades of night, their very first night in those wonderful North
+Woods of which they had dreamed so long, were fast gathering now.
+
+Already the shadows had issued forth from their hiding places, and the
+woods began to assume a certain gloomy look.
+
+Later on, the moon, being just past the full, would rise above the top of
+the distant hills toward the east. Then the woods might not seem so
+strangely mysterious.
+
+"When you're ready to begin getting supper, Uncle Jim," said Max, "you
+must let us lend a hand. We don't know it all by a long sight, but we can
+cook some, and eat--wait till you see Steve begin, and Toby--Why, hello,
+here we've been chattering away like a flock of crows and never noticed
+that our chum Toby was missing all the while!"
+
+"Missing!" echoed Steve, jumping up eagerly at the prospect of their
+first adventure coming along; and no doubt already picturing all of them
+stalking through the big timber, lanterns and torches in hand, searching
+for the absent chum.
+
+"Who saw him last?" asked Max.
+
+"Why, a little before dark," Owen answered, promptly, "I noticed him
+prowling around out among the trees. He called out that a cottontail
+rabbit had jumped up and was just daring him to chase after her."
+
+"Looks like he accepted the dare, all right," said Bandy-legs.
+
+"Where's a lantern? I choose a lantern. You other fellows can carry the
+torches, because I got burned the last time I tried that game."
+
+Steve was already beginning to hunt around as he talked, when Trapper
+Jim, who had meanwhile gone and opened the door of the cabin, called to
+them to be still.
+
+"I thought I heard him right then," he said, "and it sounded to me like
+he was calling for help. Get both those lanterns, boys, and light 'em.
+We've got to look into this thing right away."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HOW POOR TOBY WAS "RESCUED."
+
+
+Of course the greatest excitement followed this announcement on the part
+of the old trapper.
+
+Steve darted this way and that, fairly wild to do something; and
+Bandy-legs, too, showed himself anxious to help. But, as usual, it was
+cool Max, assisted by Owen, who managed to light the two lanterns.
+
+Steve pounced on the first one that was ready, true to his word.
+
+"Come on, you slow pokes!" he exclaimed, making for the door; "why, our
+poor chum might be drowning for all we know, and us wasting time here."
+
+"Oh, I reckon it ain't so bad as that," remarked Trapper Jim. "Hard to
+drown a tall boy in a three-foot deep crick. Besides, he's _up_ the wind
+from here, while the water lies the other way. That's one reason none of
+us heard him before."
+
+They were all hurrying along by now. Bandy-legs, being a little timid,
+and not altogether liking the looks of the dark woods, had picked up the
+gun belonging to Max.
+
+"My goodness!" he called out after the others, being in the rear of the
+little procession, "there's no telling how long poor old Toby might 'a'
+been letting out his whoops, and with that door shut we didn't hear him."
+
+"Well, we can right now, all right!" called back Steve, who was running
+neck and neck with the trapper, swinging his lighted lantern in such a
+reckless, haphazard fashion that he was in momentary danger of smashing
+the useful article against some tree.
+
+They could all hear Toby calling very clearly now.
+
+"Help! Oh, h-h-help!"
+
+"One thing sure," Max remarked; "Toby hasn't tumbled down into a hollow
+tree stump! His yells sound too plain for that."
+
+"Oh, shucks; forget it!" said Bandy-legs.
+
+Some time before, while the boys were hunting for Bandy-legs, who had
+become lost in a large swamp not twenty miles away from Carson, they had
+finally found him, caged fast inside a large hollow stump. He had climbed
+to the top of this to take an observation, when the rotten wood, giving
+way, had allowed him to fall inside.
+
+It had been a bitter experience for Bandy-legs, and his chums never
+mentioned it without him shivering, as memory again carried him back to
+the hours of suffering he had spent in his woody prison.
+
+As they advanced the cries grew louder:
+
+"H-h-help! Boys, oh, b-b-boys, come q-q-quick! I can't h-h-hold on much
+longer!"
+
+"Say, he must be away up in a tree!" exclaimed Steve.
+
+"No, his voice sounds closer to the ground than that," declared Max.
+
+"Tell you what," panted Bandy-legs from behind, "he's just gone and fell
+over some old cliff, that's what. You know how clumsy Toby is."
+
+That sounded rather queer, since it was the speaker himself who had
+always been getting into scrapes because of this trait.
+
+"Cliff!" snorted Steve, "like to know how anybody could ever fall up a
+cliff. You mean a precipice, silly."
+
+"Guess I do," admitted Bandy-legs, "but it's all the same. If you're on
+top it's a precipice, and if you're down below--"
+
+"Listen to him holler, would you?" interrupted Steve. "Hold on, Toby,
+we're coming as fast as we c'n sprint! Keep up a little longer! It's all
+right! Your pards are on the job!"
+
+Max thought he saw Trapper Jim laughing about this time. From this he
+imagined the other must have guessed the true state of affairs, and that
+poor Toby could not be in such desperate straits as they believed.
+
+The darkness was intense there under the trees.
+
+Several times did impulsive Steve stumble over obstacles which in his
+eagerness he had failed to notice.
+
+Trapper Jim was doubtless sizing the various boys up by degrees, and long
+before now he had read most of their leading characteristics. But anyone
+would be able to know the headstrong nature of Steve Dowdy, after being
+in his company for an hour.
+
+"Where are you, Toby, old fellow?" called Steve.
+
+"H-h-here! L-l-lookout, or you'll f-f-fall over, too," came weakly from a
+point just ahead of them.
+
+"Oh, didn't I tell you?" shouted Bandy-legs. "It is a _precipice_ after
+all, and p'r'aps an awful high one! Hold on, Toby, don't you dare let
+loose when we're right at hand."
+
+Max had felt a thrill again at the prospect of such a peril threatening
+Toby. But another look at Trapper Jim reassured him.
+
+"Yes," said Jim, "be mighty careful how you step, boys. Get down on your
+hands and knees and creep up here to the edge of the awful chasm. Now,
+hold the lanterns down, so we can all of us see."
+
+Cautiously did the alarmed Steve do as he was told. Four pairs of eager
+eyes took in the situation. Amazement staggered the boys for the space of
+ten seconds. Then they burst out into loud laughter.
+
+And no wonder.
+
+Toby was hanging there all right, red of face from his long-continued
+exertion, and looking appealingly up to his chums. He had caught hold of
+a friendly stout root as he found himself going over, and to this he
+clung, digging his toes from time to time into the face of the
+"precipice," and in this way managing to sustain himself, though almost
+completely exhausted by the alarm and strain combined.
+
+"Ain't you g-g-goin' to h-h-help me?" he gasped, amazed no doubt to hear
+his heartless chums laughing at his misfortune.
+
+"Let go, Toby!" cried Max.
+
+"Yes, drop down and take a rest!" added Steve, who could enjoy a joke to
+the utmost when it was on Toby, with whom he often had words; though all
+the same they were quite fond of each other.
+
+"W-w-want me to get s-s-smashed, d-d-don't you?" answered back the
+indignant boy, as he continued to clutch that root, as though he believed
+it to be the only thing between himself and destruction.
+
+"Look down, you loon!" cried Steve. "Call that a big drop? Why, I declare
+the ground ain't more'n six inches down below your feet! Shucks; did I
+ever hear the like!"
+
+Toby did twist his neck the best he could and look. Then with a glad cry
+he released his hold on the friendly root to fall in a heap.
+
+"Let's get down to him," said Trapper Jim, "he must be pretty well used
+up, I reckon. Perhaps he's been hangin' thar half an hour'n more."
+
+"But whatever made him do such a silly thing?" asked Steve, as they
+proceeded to go around the edge of the little "sink," led by the trapper,
+who knew every foot of ground.
+
+"Well, I don't know that it was so queer after all," declared Jim; "you
+see, when he fell over here in the dark, how was Toby to know whether he
+was hanging over a precipice ten feet deep or a hundred? All he could do
+was to keep hold of that root and holler for help."
+
+"And he did that to beat the band," declared Owen.
+
+"I guess it was all real to him," the trapper went on to say; "and
+chances are, when he heard the trickling of this little brook that runs
+through the sink here, he thought it was a river away below him. Oh, I
+can feel for Toby all right. I once had an experience myself something
+like his. But here we are down. How're you feeling, son?"
+
+"P-p-pretty r-r-rocky," declared Toby, who was sitting up when they
+reached him, and seemed to be trembling all over, as the result of the
+nervous strain to which he had been subjected.
+
+"Don't blame you a bit," declared Max, who saw that the poor chap had in
+truth suffered considerably. "Lots of fellows would have thought the same
+as you did, Toby. I might myself, if I'd slipped down that way in the
+dark. Here, grab hold with me, Steve, and we'll help Toby home."
+
+"Anyhow," admitted Toby, as they put their arms about him, "I'm g-g-glad
+you did c-c-come. R-r-reckon I'd f-f-fainted if I just had to let
+g-g-go."
+
+"Rats! I don't believe it," scoffed the unbelieving Steve.
+
+Once they reached the trapper's cabin, and came under the cheerful
+influence of that crackling fire, even Toby's spirits rose again. He had
+by this time recovered some of his usual grit, and could afford to laugh
+with the rest at his recent experience.
+
+It was about as Trapper Jim suspected.
+
+Toby had been tempted to follow the lame rabbit for some little distance
+into the woods. Finally, finding that he had gone pretty far, and with
+night closing in rapidly all around him, the boy had started to return.
+
+Becoming a little confused, he had stumbled one way and another, and in
+the end fallen over the edge of the shallow sink.
+
+Throwing out his hands even as he felt himself falling, he had caught
+hold of the projecting root. Here he had hung, trying again and again to
+climb up, but in vain; and quite sure that a terrible void lay beyond his
+dangling legs.
+
+At first Toby had been too alarmed to even think of calling for help. But
+as time went by, and he realized the desperate nature of his predicament,
+he tried to shout.
+
+This was never an easy task to the stuttering boy, and doubtless he made
+a sorry mess out of it.
+
+But all's well that ends well. Toby had been gallantly rescued, and now
+the five chums were doing their level best to assist Trapper Jim prepare
+supper.
+
+Would they ever forget the delights of that first meal under the roof of
+the forest cabin? Often had they partaken of a camp dinner, but never
+before had it seemed to have the same flavor as this one did, surrounded
+as they were with those bunches of suggestive steel traps, the furs that
+told of Jim's prowess in other days, and above all having the presence
+of the grizzled trapper himself, a veritable storehouse of wonderful
+information and thrilling experiences.
+
+And after the meal was finished they made themselves as comfortable as
+each could arrange it, using all Jim's furs in the bargain.
+
+"Now, let's lay out the programme for to-morrow," suggested Max.
+
+"Me to try for the first deer," spoke up Steve, quickly. "Squirrel stew,
+like we had for supper to-night, is all very well, but it ain't in the
+same class with fresh venison. Yum, yum, my mouth fairly waters for it,
+boys!"
+
+"Some like venison and some say gray nut-fed squirrels," remarked Trapper
+Jim. "As for me, give me squirrel every time."
+
+"But we ought to try and get one deer anyway, hadn't we?" Steve pleaded.
+
+"Sure we will," replied the owner of the cabin, heartily, "and I hope it
+falls to your gun, Steve, seeing you dote on venison so. But it might be
+to-morrow I'd like to set a few of my traps, and reckoned that some of
+you boys'd want to watch me do the job."
+
+"That's right," cried Owen and Max together, their eyes fairly sparkling
+with delight at the anticipated treat.
+
+So they talked on, and Trapper Jim told lots of mighty interesting things
+as he smoked his old black pipe and sent curling wreaths of blue smoke up
+the broad throat of the chimney.
+
+"Wonder if the moon ain't up long before now?" remarked Steve, finally.
+
+"Go and find out," suggested Bandy-legs.
+
+Whereupon Steve arose, stretched his cramped legs, and, going over to the
+door, opened it. They saw him pass out, and as the trapper had started to
+relate another of his deeply interesting experiences the boys devoted
+their attention to him. But it was not three minutes later when Steve
+came rushing into the cabin, his eyes filled with excitement, and his
+voice raised to almost a shout as he cried out:
+
+"Wolves; a whole pack of 'em comin' tearin' mad this way!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+WHAT WOODCRAFT MEANT.
+
+
+"Wolves! Oh, my gracious! You don't say!" cried Bandy-legs, making a dive
+for the two sleeping bunks that Steve had built along one side of the
+inside wall of the cabin.
+
+Of course there was an immediate scurrying around. All the other boys
+were on their feet instantly, even tired Toby with the rest.
+
+Max instinctively threw a glance toward the corner where his faithful gun
+stood. He did not jump to secure it, however, because something caused
+him to first of all steal a quick look at Trapper Jim. When he discovered
+that worthy with a broad smile upon his face, Max decided that after all
+the danger could hardly be as severe as indications pointed.
+
+Meanwhile Steve had managed to slam the door shut, and was holding it so
+with his whole weight while he tried to adjust the bar properly in its
+twin sockets.
+
+Steve was trembling all over with excitement. A thing like this was apt
+to stir him up tremendously.
+
+"Why don't some of you lend a hand here?" he kept calling out. "Plague
+take that clumsy old bar, won't it ever take hold? Get my gun for me,
+can't you, Bandy-legs? Listen to the varmints a-tryin' to break in, would
+you. Wow! Ain't they mad I fooled them, though? Say, I wonder now if
+they'd think to get on the roof and come down the chimbly. Hand me my
+gun, Bandy-legs! Get a move on you!"
+
+By this time Jim was doubled up with laughter.
+
+"Hold on you cannon-ball express boy," he remarked, as he stepped over
+and began to take away the bar which Steve had managed to get in place
+with so much trouble; "I guess we'll have to let these critters come in.
+They look on Uncle Jim's cabin as their home."
+
+"What, wolves!" gasped Steve.
+
+"Well, hardly, but my two dogs, Ajax and Don," replied the trapper. "You
+see, I didn't want them along when I borrowed that buckboard and team to
+fetch you all here. So I left 'em with a neighbor three miles off, and
+told him to set 'em loose to-night. So you thought they were wolves, did
+you, Steve? Well, I guess they look somethin' that way, and the moonlight
+was a little deceivin', too."
+
+With that he threw open the door.
+
+Immediately a couple of shaggy dogs bounded in and began barking
+furiously as they jumped up at their master, showing all the symptoms of
+great joy.
+
+"Sho, one'd think they hadn't seen me for a whole month, instead of only
+a few hours," laughed Trapper Jim, as he fondled the dogs.
+
+Then the five boys in turn were introduced, as gravely as though Ajax and
+Don might be human beings.
+
+"They're quick to catch on," remarked Trapper Jim. "They know now you're
+all friends of mine, and you can depend on 'em to stand by you through
+thick and thin."
+
+"What are they good for?" asked Bandy-legs.
+
+"This smaller one is reckoned the best 'coon dog in the woods," replied
+the other, patting the head of Don. "If there's a striped-tail in the
+district and I set him to working, he'll get him up a tree sooner or
+later. And when the animal is knocked to the ground Don knows just how to
+get the right grip on his throat."
+
+"But his ears are all slit, and his head looks like it had been scratched
+and gouged a whole lot," remarked Steve.
+
+"Well, old 'coons, they've got pretty sharp claws sometimes, ain't they,
+Don?" continued the old trapper. "And in the excitement a dog can't
+always just defend himself, eh, old fellow! They will get a dig in once
+in a while, spite of us."
+
+Don barked three times, just as if he understood every single word his
+master was saying.
+
+"And how about Ajax?" Bandy-legs continued.
+
+"He's a general all-around dog, and ain't afraid of anything that walks.
+Why, boys, I've known him to tackle and kill the biggest lynx ever seen
+in these parts, and that's something few dogs could do."
+
+"What's a lynx?" asked Bandy-legs.
+
+"A species of wildcat that sometimes strays down this way across the
+Canada border," replied the trapper. "Generally speaking, he's bigger'n
+the other and fierce as all get out. Fact is, I believe I'd sooner have a
+panther tackle me than a full-grown, ugly tempered lynx. Some people call
+it the 'woods devil,' and they hit it pretty near right, too."
+
+"Hasn't a lynx got some sort of mark about him that makes him look
+different from the ordinary bobcat?" asked Owen.
+
+"Why, yes," replied Trapper Jim, "there's some difference in the beasts;
+but I reckon the little tassels that kinder adorn the ears of the lynx
+mark him most of all."
+
+"Looks like a full house, now," remarked Max, who had not hesitated to
+make up with both the dogs, being very fond of their kind.
+
+"Oh, while I have company Ajax and Don'll have to sleep in the shed or
+lean-to outside," remarked the master of the dogs. "Of course, when I'm
+here all by myself they stay indoors with me. And I tell you, lads, they
+make a fellow feel less lonely in the long winter days and nights. Dogs
+are men's best friends--that is, the right kind of dogs. They become
+greatly attached to you, too."
+
+Toby just then seemed to become greatly excited. Finding it difficult to
+express himself as he wanted, he pointed straight at Steve, and was heard
+to say:
+
+"A-a-attached to you! S-s-sure they do; S-s-steve knows! Saw one attached
+to h-h-him once. Wouldn't h-h-hardly let go."
+
+At that there were loud shouts, and even Steve himself could hardly keep
+from grinning at the recollection of the picture Toby's words recalled.
+
+"'Spose you fellers never _will_ get over that affair," he remarked, as
+he put his hand behind him, just as if after all these months he still
+felt a pain where the dog had bitten him. "Cost me a good pair of
+trousers, too, in the bargain. It was a bulldog," he added, turning
+toward Trapper Jim, "and he was so much attached to me that he followed
+me halfway 'over a seven-foot fence. Would have gone the whole thing only
+the cloth gave way and he lost his grip."
+
+"Well, that showed a warm, generous nature," remarked Trapper Jim; "some
+dogs are marked that way."
+
+"This one was," declared Steve. "But I got even with the critter."
+
+"How was that?" asked the other, looking a little serious; for, himself a
+lover of dogs, he never liked to hear of one being abused.
+
+"I got me one of those little liquid pistols, you know, and laid for my
+old enemy," Steve continued; "he saw me passing by and came bouncing out
+to try my other leg. But he changed his mind in a big hurry. And, say,
+you just ought to 'a' heard him yelp when he turned around and faced the
+other way."
+
+"You didn't blind the poor beast, I hope?" remarked Jim.
+
+"Oh, nothin' to speak of," said Steve, gayly. "He was all right the next
+day. Ammonia smarts like fun for awhile, but it goes off. But, listen,
+whenever I passed that house, if old Beauty was sitting on the steps like
+he used to do, as soon as he glimpsed me, would you believe it, he'd turn
+tail and run quick for the back yard and watch me around the comer of the
+house."
+
+"You had him tamed, all right," said Max.
+
+"We called it an even break, and let it go at that," said Steve.
+
+When the boys began to yawn, and betrayed unmistakable evidences of being
+sleepy, their host showed them how he had arranged it so that they could
+all sleep comfortably.
+
+There were only two wooden bunks, one above the other. Trapper Jim was to
+occupy the lower one, and turn about, the five boys were to have the
+other.
+
+This necessitated four of them sleeping on the floor each night. But as
+there were plenty of soft furs handy, and the boys announced that they
+always enjoyed being able to stretch out on the ground, Jim knew he would
+have no trouble on this score.
+
+So the first night passed.
+
+Perhaps none of them slept as well as usual. This nearly always turns out
+to be the case with those who go into the wilderness for a spell. The
+change from home comforts and soft beds to the hardships that attend
+roughing it can be set down as the principal cause.
+
+However, nothing serious occurred during the night calculated to disturb
+them. It is true Toby did fall out of the upper berth once, landing on a
+couple of the others with a thump, but then such a little matter was
+hardly worth mentioning between friends.
+
+And they could understand how Toby must be dreaming of his recent
+trouble, as he hung over that terrible abyss by his hold on a single
+root.
+
+Perhaps the root gave way in his dreams, and Toby made a frantic effort
+to save himself.
+
+Morning came at last.
+
+Breakfast was cooked and eaten with considerable eagerness, for
+immediately it was over the boys expected to accompany their host while
+he made his first tour of the season, intending to set a few traps in
+places that had been marked as favorable to the carrying out of his
+business.
+
+They could hardly wait for Trapper Jim to get through his chores.
+
+Presently Jim went over several lots of hanging traps and selected those
+he wished to use on the first day.
+
+How he seemed to handle certain ones fondly, as though they carried with
+them memories of stirring events in the dim past.
+
+They all looked pretty much alike to the boys, but Jim undoubtedly had
+certain little familiar marks by means of which he recognized each
+individual trap. He mentioned some of their peculiar histories as he
+picked out his "lucky" traps.
+
+"This one held two mink at a pop twice now, something I never knew to
+happen before," he remarked.
+
+"And this old rusty one was lost a whole season. When I happened to find
+it, there was a piece of bone and some fur between the jaws, showing that
+the poor little critter had gnawed off its own foot rather than die of
+starvation. Made me fell bad, that did. A good trapper seldom allows such
+a thing to happen."
+
+"Do mink really set themselves free that way?" asked Owen.
+
+"They will, if given half a chance," was Jim's reply. "That's one reason
+we always try to fix it so that mink, otter, muskrats, fisher, and all
+animals that are trapped along the edge of streams manage to drown
+themselves soon after they are caught. It saves the pelt from being
+injured, too, by their crazy efforts to break away."
+
+"And what of that trap over there? You seem to be taking mighty good care
+of it," said Max, who was deeply interested in everything the trapper was
+doing.
+
+"Well, I hadn't ought to complain about that trap," came the answer.
+"Year before last it caught me a silver fox, as the black fox is called.
+And perhaps you know that a prime black fox pelt is worth as high as
+several thousand dollars."
+
+"Hear that, will you!" exclaimed Steve.
+
+"H-h-how much d-d-did you g-g-get for it?" asked Toby.
+
+"Well," Jim went on to say, "it wasn't a Number One, but they allowed I
+ought to get eight-fifty for it; which check was enclosed in the letter
+I'll show you some day. I keep it to prove the truth of my story."
+
+"A bully good day's work, eh?" remarked Steve.
+
+"Best that ever came my way," admitted the other.
+
+"Gee, wonder now if we'd be lucky enough to set eyes on a silver fox
+worth a cool thousand or more?" ventured Bandy-legs.
+
+"It is barely possible you may, boys," remarked the trapper; "because I
+saw a beauty two or three times during the summer. And I'm kind of hoping
+there may be some sort of magic about this same trap to coax him to put
+his foot in it."
+
+"A single fox skin fetching thousands of dollars!" remarked Steve, as if
+hardly able to grasp it as the truth. "Whew, that beats finding pearls in
+the shells of mussels all hollow!"
+
+"Yes," Owen broke in, "and even Ted Shafter and his crowd hunting wild
+ginseng roots and selling it to the wholesale drug house at big money
+doesn't cut so much of a figure after all, does it?"
+
+"One thing I want to ask you, boys, right in the start," the trapper took
+occasion to say; "while you're up with me you must promise never to shoot
+at a fox, a mink, a marten, an otter, or in fact any small fur-bearing
+animal."
+
+"We give you our word, all right, Uncle Jim," said Steve, readily.
+
+"Of course," continued the old trapper, "my one reason for asking this is
+to keep you from ruining good pelts. It would be pretty tough now if
+after I caught that black fox I found that his skin had been so badly
+torn by birdshot that it wasn't worth handling."
+
+"That's right, it would," admitted Owen.
+
+"You can depend on us to hold back," Max added, sincerely.
+
+"Well, this is about all the traps I care to put out to-day," and as he
+spoke Jim made them up in two bundles, one of which he gave to Toby and
+the other to Bandy-legs.
+
+He saw that, ordinarily, these two were the least important members of
+the club. And in the kindness of his heart he wished to make them feel
+that he needed their especial help.
+
+So Toby and the other chum slung the traps over their shoulders with
+ill-concealed pleasure in that they had been singled out for such
+attention by the old trapper.
+
+"Then you don't mean to set Old Tom to-day," asked Owen, pointing to a
+big trap, whose weight and grim-looking jaws announced that it was
+intended for large game.
+
+Old Jim smiled and shook his head, as he replied:
+
+"Hardly any use, unless we run across bear tracks. Such a thing might
+happen, you know; because it did snow last night, and there's a good inch
+on the ground right now."
+
+"But, hold on," said Owen, "I understood that bears always went to sleep
+in the fall and stayed in some cave or a hollow tree till spring came."
+
+"They do," answered the trapper, "but generally hang around till the
+first real hard blizzard comes along. This little snow don't count, and
+every day a bear is able to be around hunting roots and such things, why,
+the less he has to live on his own fat, you know, But we're all ready
+now, so come along, boys."
+
+The dogs were left at the cabin, which Jim did not even shut up. He knew
+Ajax and Don would stay close at home; for the sight of the strings of
+traps told the intelligent dogs they could not be allowed to accompany
+their master on this expedition.
+
+An hour later, and Jim was showing the eager and curious boys who
+remained at a little distance, so that their scent might not cause the
+cautious mink to abandon his usual trail, just how he set a trap in order
+to catch the cunning little animal, and make him drown himself with the
+weight of the trap.
+
+The snare was set at the mouth of a hole in the bank of a creek, and
+which, Jim informed them, was one of many visited by the male mink each
+night as they wandered up and down the stream.
+
+He used some animal "scent" contained in a small bottle to help attract
+his prey. Then, after destroying all evidences of his having been there
+as much as he possibly could, Trapper Jim rejoined the boys.
+
+"Now we'll head for the marsh where I put several traps day before
+yesterday and mean to add a few more to-day," he remarked. "As we go,
+I'll try to explain just why a man has to be so very careful whenever he
+matches his wits against those of a wily and timid little beast."
+
+They hung upon every word Jim uttered, for these secrets of the woods
+were things all of them had long wanted to know. What could musty old
+school books teach them that could equal the knowledge they imbibed
+straight out of the fountain of experience.
+
+It was while Jim was holding forth in his most effective manner, so as to
+thrill every one of his boy friends, that they saw him come to a sudden
+stop.
+
+His eyes were fastened upon the white ground just in front of them, and
+as he pointed with his gun he electrified the boys by saying:
+
+"Mebbe after all we might have use of Old Tom to-morrow, for there's the
+tracks of a big bear."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE SECRETS OF TRAPPING.
+
+
+"Bully!" cried Steve, looking almost as happy as he did on that
+never-to-be-forgotten day when they found their first lovely pearl in a
+mussel taken from the Big Sunflower River.
+
+"A b-b-bear!" exclaimed Toby. "L-l-let me s-s-see."
+
+All of them were soon eagerly examining the marks so plainly described in
+the light snow. Bruin had evidently shuffled along here, heading for some
+favorite place in the neighboring marsh, where he knew food was still to
+be found.
+
+"We'd better leave the old chap alone for a bit," announced Jim. "When I
+can make sure by his coming back to his den the same way that he's got a
+regular trail, we'll lay for him."
+
+"I'd like to get in a shot with my gun," declared Steve.
+
+"H-h-ho! Much g-g-good your N-n-number Seven shot'd d-d-do against his
+t-t-tough old hide!" jeered Toby.
+
+"Get out! You don't think I'm such a ninny as that, I hope," answered
+Steve, indignantly. "Hey, take a look at that shell, and this one, too,
+will you? Know why that black cross is on them? Course you don't. Well,
+I'll tell you."
+
+"H-h-hurry up then and t-t-tell me."
+
+"They're buckshot shells," declared Steve. "Each one's got just twelve
+buckshot inside, all as big as pistol bullets. And at short range they're
+calculated to bring down a deer like fun. I'd be willing to take my
+chances against a black bear, given a good opening to hit him back of his
+foreleg. Now you know a heap more'n you did before, Toby Jucklin."
+
+"S-s-sure," answered the other, nodding his head good-naturedly.
+
+"But remember," said Jim at this juncture, "a good bearskin is worth all
+the way from five to twenty dollars to me. But after you've made a sieve
+out of it with twelve or twenty-four buckshot from that scatter gun, why,
+I hardly think I could give it away."
+
+"So Steve, please restrain your bear-killing feeling just now," said Max.
+"Whether we get him in a trap or shoot him on the run the bear steaks
+will taste just as good; won't they, Uncle Jim?"
+
+"I reckon you're right," replied the trapper, without any great
+animation; for doubtless he had found bear meat pretty tough eating, and
+given his choice would any day have much preferred the porterhouse steak
+which Steve had so often at home that he turned up his nose at it.
+
+When they arrived at the marsh where the countless muskrats had their
+homes, a new species of interest was aroused.
+
+Jim showed them how he had to employ entirely new tactics when dealing
+with the muskrats than in connection with the mink. The former were
+banded together in colonies, and the trapper had to be constantly on the
+alert lest in capturing one prize he frighten the whole family away.
+
+"But I learned my business many years ago," the old trapper declared,
+with considerable pride, "when beaver lived in the North Woods. There
+never were more wary little animals than those same beaver, and the man
+who could circumvent 'em had a right to call himself smart."
+
+After setting three traps he led the way to a place where he had left one
+baited on the occasion of his previous visit to the marsh.
+
+"You see, here's where I set it on the bank," he remarked, "and the chain
+ran down there to a stake in deep water."
+
+"But it ain't here now, Uncle Jim," said Steve.
+
+"Because a curious and hungry musquash, anxious to reach the bait I stuck
+on a splinter of wood just above the trap, set it off."
+
+"And then sprang back into the water, because that was his natural way of
+doing when alarmed, and soon drowned there. Was that the way it worked,
+Uncle Jim?" asked Max.
+
+The old trapper looked fondly at him and answered:
+
+"Exactly as you say, son. Men who trap these cunning small fur-bearing
+animals never get tired of studying their habits; and the one who enters
+most fully into the life and instincts of mink, 'coon, marten, otter,
+fisher, or even the humble muskrat, is the fellow who succeeds best in
+his business."
+
+"B-b-but all the m-m-muskrats I ever saw could swim and s-s-stay under
+w-w-water's long as they p-p-pleased," Toby broke out with.
+
+"That's a mistake," said Trapper Jim. "None of these animals can live
+under water all the time like a fish. They have to come up to breathe
+just so often. Beaver have houses made of mud and sticks. The entrances
+to these are always down below: but you find the tops of all beaver
+houses above the surface."
+
+"But," said Steve, "I've seen muskrats dive just as Toby says, and waited
+with a club to have 'em come to the top of the water again; but lots of
+times I'd have to chuck it up as no good. How did that happen, Uncle
+Jim?"
+
+"That is easily explained," answered the trapper. "Just as alligators do,
+so mink, otter, and muskrats have holes that run up into the bank of a
+stream, their nest being always above ordinary high water. When you
+missed seeing your rat it was because he happened to be near enough to
+dive down, enter his tunnel, and make his way up to his nest. You see,
+there are lots of queer things to be learned, if you only keep your eyes
+and ears open when in these woods."
+
+"But show us if you really did get one in your trap," urged Bandy-legs,
+who knew much less about all these things than any one of the chums, yet
+felt considerable eagerness to learn.
+
+So with a stick that had a fork at the end Jim felt around in the water
+at a point he supposed he would find something.
+
+And, sure enough, he presently caught the chain and speedily pulled out
+the trap. It was not empty. A plump-looking muskrat was caught by both
+forelegs.
+
+"You got him, all right, sure," commented Steve.
+
+Trapper Jim was taking the victim out, and carefully resetting the trap
+in the same place it had been before; after which he renewed the bait.
+
+"Like as not I'll have another to-morrow, and for days to come," he
+remarked; "unless they get suspicious on account of the scent we leave by
+touching things. I try to kill that all I can. But when animals are
+unusually timid, it's often necessary to come in a boat, and do it all
+without setting a foot on shore, because, you know, water leaves neither
+trail nor scent."
+
+"Yes, the sharpest-nosed hound in the world is knocked out, I've read,
+when the game takes to the water."
+
+It was Owen who made this remark, and the trapper nodded his head in
+approval as he added:
+
+"I see you are a great reader, my boy. That's a mighty fine thing.
+There's only one that's better--proving the truth of things by actual
+experience. And while you're up here in the grand old North Woods with me
+I hope you'll pick up a lot of useful information that you never would
+find in any school books. Now we're ready to visit the second trap that
+was set a little farther along."
+
+To the satisfaction of the trapper this furnished a victim equal in size
+to the first one.
+
+"I didn't know muskrats counted for much, Uncle Jim," remarked Steve, who
+saw the sparkle in the old man's eyes as he handled the second prize.
+
+"Oh well, the skins didn't pay for the trouble years ago," he said in
+reply, "but of late years good furs are getting so scarce that they are
+using heaps of muskrat pelts, generally dyed and sold under another name.
+It is a good serviceable fur, and if taken up North answers the purpose
+very well."
+
+"Why do you say 'up North'?" asked Owen.
+
+"Max there can tell you, I'm sure," laughed the trapper.
+
+"Oh, well," remarked the one mentioned, "I do happen to know that the
+farther north you go the better the fur. And, of course, that means a
+higher price in the market, since all pelts are graded according to size
+and quality."
+
+"That means, I suppose," said Owen, "that a muskrat skin taken away up in
+Northern Michigan or Canada is more valuable than the same sized pelt
+that was captured down, say, in Florida."
+
+"Often worth twice or three times as much," remarked the trapper. "Stands
+to reason, too, since the little critters don't have much need of thick
+hides where the weather is generally warm."
+
+"I can see through that all right," Steve admitted, "but ain't they queer
+lookin' little rascals, though! Some plump, too!"
+
+"Fat as butter this season," observed Jim. "And I'm just longing to see
+how they taste. Last year they didn't just seem to suit my particular
+brand of appetite."
+
+"What's that?" almost shouted Steve, "say, Uncle Jim, you're just trying
+to give me taffy now, sure you are."
+
+"That's where you're mistaken Steve," said the trapper, smiling at the
+horrified expression on the boy's face.
+
+"But--you don't mean to say you _eat_ muskrats?" demanded Steve.
+
+"Do I? Well, you wait and see how I'll tackle these this very evening.
+And if we're lucky enough to find a third one in my other set trap, why,
+you boys can have a look in, too."
+
+"Me eat rats?" cried Steve, scornfully. "Mebbe I might if I had to do it
+or starve to death; but not when I've got other stuff to line my stomach
+with, I'm no Chinaman, Uncle Jim."
+
+"Well, you'll change your tune before long," remarked the other, "and
+it's a mistake to class these clean little animals with common rats. The
+Indian name for him is musquash, and thousands of people appreciate the
+fact that his meat is as sweet as that of a squirrel."
+
+"And I've been told," said Max, "much more tender."
+
+"That's a fact," declared Jim, "I've got so I never try to fry a squirrel
+nowadays unless he's been parboiled first. They're the toughest little
+critters that run around on four legs."
+
+When they arrived at the third trap it was found to contain another
+"victim of misplaced confidence," as Old Jim called it.
+
+"Plenty to go around now, boys," remarked the trapper.
+
+"You'll have to excuse me," said Steve, shuddering.
+
+And yet before three days went by Steve had been induced to taste the
+musquash, as Trapper Jim prepared them, and found the dish so good that
+afterwards his tin pannikin was shoved forward for a second helping as
+often as any of the others.
+
+On the way home, after all the traps they had brought had been set,
+Bandy-legs noticed a tree that stood up black and grim, as though a fire
+had destroyed it at some time.
+
+"Yes," said Jim, when his attention was directed that way, "quite a few
+years ago we had a big fire up this way that did heaps of damage. And
+I've noticed that the conditions this fall are just about the same as
+that year. Why, we've hardly had any rain at all in the last two months."
+
+"The woods must be pretty dry then, I should think," Max remarked.
+
+"Dry as tinder," replied the other. "This little snow will all disappear,
+and unless we get a heavy fall soon, it wouldn't surprise me if some
+careless campers or deer hunters let their camp fire get into the brush
+when the wind is blowing great guns. Then there'll be the mischief to
+pay. But I hope it won't be any one of you boys."
+
+Each and every one of them solemnly declared that he was firmly resolved
+to be unusually careful.
+
+Finally they reached the cabin.
+
+In the afternoon Old Jim skinned the three musquash, and showed the boys
+how he fastened the hides on stretching boards, which would cause them
+to retain their shape while they dried.
+
+"We never put skins in the sun or near a fire to dry," he observed,
+seeing that most of the boys were anxious to learn all they could. "The
+best way is to stand 'em in the shade where the breeze can play on 'em.
+But, of course, you mustn't let the pelts get wet while they're drying."
+
+Sure enough, Jim cut up the musquash, and gave evidences of satisfaction
+at finding them so plump.
+
+As the afternoon began to wane Bandy-legs surprised his chums by actually
+volunteering to go out and gather wood for the fire.
+
+This was really such an unusual occurrence that Max surveyed the other
+curiously as he passed out.
+
+He wondered if Bandy-legs, generally quite lazy, had seen the error of
+his ways and meant to reform.
+
+It appeared that Max was not the only one who thought this action odd,
+for Owen spoke of it.
+
+"What d'ye suppose struck that boy?" he remarked.
+
+"Never knew him to volunteer to do a thing before," declared Max.
+
+"I should say not," Steve broke in. "Generally speaking, we have to use a
+stuffed club on Bandy-legs to get him to do anything but eat."
+
+Toby chuckled.
+
+"Gr-g-great s-s-stunt," he ejaculated, "g-g-got him anxious to t-t-try
+stewed m-m-m-m--" But that name was really too much for Toby, who had to
+be satisfied by pointing at the kettle in which Trapper Jim had placed
+the dismembered musquash.
+
+At this the others laughed.
+
+They were lounging around in the cabin at the time. A small blaze burned
+in the big fireplace at the bottom of the wide-throated chimney.
+
+"What I want to know," remarked Owen, who had been examining one of the
+skins stretched on the thin board, "is why they fix these different
+ways. I've read that some skins are cured with the fur out and others
+with it in; some split and others dried whole."
+
+"Glad you mentioned that," said Jim, looking pleased. "Skins are of all
+kinds. Some we dry cased, without cutting. I'm going to show you the
+whole business by degrees, if we're lucky enough--"
+
+He stopped short in what he was saying, and seemed to cock his head on
+one side, as though listening.
+
+"Say, I guess there must be some kind of bird or animal in your old
+chimney, Uncle Jim," remarked Steve.
+
+"I thought I heard it, too," Owen declared.
+
+All listened.
+
+"There it goes again," said Steve; "and something dropped down right
+then. I was thinking of that story you told us where a bear came down
+through the big chimney of a cabin. Wow! Listen to that, would you?"
+
+As Steve cried out in this way, the rattling in the chimney suddenly grew
+into an alarming noise. Then a large object fell with a crash into the
+fire.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+WHAT CAME DOWN THE CHIMNEY.
+
+
+"It's a bear!" whooped Steve, as he made a headlong dash for the corner
+where his double barrel stood.
+
+Forgotten just then was the injunction of the old trapper that they
+should not shoot any thing that wore fur, as it would cheat him out of
+all his expected profits.
+
+If a bear became so bold as to enter the cabin by way of the chimney he
+must surely be treated, with scant ceremony. Buckshot or birdshot, it
+mattered little which the gun contained, since at close quarters the load
+would carry like a large bullet.
+
+But Steve had not even managed to lay a hand on his gun, when he was
+amazed to hear above the barking of the two dogs, loud shrieks of
+laughter from Max, Owen, and Toby.
+
+Even the hoarser notes of the trapper seemed to join in. And when there
+chanced to be a little break in all this racket, Steve caught a wailing
+voice crying aloud:
+
+"Put me out! Somebody throw a bucket of water over me, and put me out!
+I'm all a-fire! Why can't you help a feller?"
+
+A figure was dancing around like mad, now slapping at his trousers leg,
+and then trying to reach the middle of his back, where his coat seemed to
+be smoldering.
+
+It was Bandy-legs.
+
+Steve instantly recognized his chum, and this fact, taken with the noise
+in the chimney, gave the thing away.
+
+Bandy-legs had tried to play a prank on them, and, as usual, made a sorry
+mess of it.
+
+While sitting there and looking at the wide-throated chimney, perhaps his
+mind went out to what Jim had told about the curious bear which, hunting
+around on the roof of a cabin to ascertain where that fine odor of hams
+came from, fell down the chimney.
+
+He would climb upon the roof and lower a make-believe wildcat, fashioned
+out of an old moth-eaten skin Jim had thrown away.
+
+That accounted for Bandy-legs' astonishing announcement that he would go
+out and gather some of the wood for the night.
+
+It also explained to Max just why he had been stout string that lay upon
+the trapper's table. This would be needed in the carrying out of his
+trick.
+
+But, like the incautious bear, Bandy-legs had also leaned too far over
+the top of the chimney. Perhaps he wanted, not to sniff the smoked hams
+below, as in the case of Bruin, but to hear the shouts of consternation
+when his make-believe bobcat landed in the fireplace, apparently jumping
+up and down as Bandy-legs jerked the string.
+
+The consequence had been that he fell into the opening, and, landing on
+all fours, scattered the little fire in every direction.
+
+But seeing that the boy's clothes were really on fire in several places,
+Max grabbed up the first thing he could think of that might be depended
+on to extinguish the smoldering cloth.
+
+"Hold on, that's my supper!" shouted Trapper Jim, clutching the hand of
+Max before he could empty the kettle. "Here's the water-bucket; use
+that."
+
+And Max did so, drenching poor dancing Bandy-legs from head to foot with
+the contents of the pail.
+
+"That's the time Bandy-legs came near getting more than his share of the
+grub," declared Owen, who was busily engaged stamping out some of
+the smoldering brands that had been scattered around so promiscuously
+when the sprawling figure of the boy landed in their midst.
+
+"Somebody carry that old skin outside," said Trapper Jim. "It's burning
+more or less, and we'll have the cabin so full of smell we won't be able
+to stay in it much longer."
+
+Toby volunteered to do this, although he had to handle the thing
+carefully so as not to get burned.
+
+"I'll go after another bucket of water," remarked Max; "and I'd advise
+our practical joker here to jump out of those wet duds and get into some
+dry ones in a hurry."
+
+Bandy-legs, looking disgusted and rather silly, was beginning to shiver,
+as the door, which now stood open to ventilate the cabin, allowed the
+chilly air of approaching evening to enter.
+
+"Guess I will," he remarked; "'cause I've got that wood to gather."
+
+"You bet you have," declared Steve; "we don't let you off from that job.
+And when you've got your hand in, we'll expect you to take care of the
+fuel business right along, see?"
+
+"See you in Guinea first," muttered Bandy-legs, bristling up.
+
+They could never coax him to tell what he had really intended doing at
+the time his treacherous heels slipped on the roof, and he fell down the
+big opening through which the smoke escaped.
+
+Still, no one needed explanations. The fact of his lowering the old
+abandoned pelt, bundled up so as to look as much like a live bobcat as
+possible, spoke for itself.
+
+Somehow or other this trip seemed to be particularly hard on practical
+jokers. Owen gravely remarked that all who were ordinarily given to
+playing pranks would take notice.
+
+"Needn't look at me that way when you say that," remarked Steve. "I used
+to be a great hand for jokes, but never again. I've reformed, I have."
+
+"Y-y-yes, like f-f-fun you have," scoffed Toby, who knew Steve "like a
+book," and had no faith in his professed change of heart.
+
+After a while things looked comfortable again.
+
+The fire burned cheerily on the hearth and Jim's kettle, hanging from an
+iron bar that could be let down, steamed and bubbled, and began sending
+out appetizing odors that even Steve sniffed with less resentment than he
+had anticipated.
+
+"What d'ye think of it now, Steve?" asked Uncle Jim.
+
+"Huh, if you mean the smell, why, it ain't so very bad," replied the boy.
+"Fact is, makes me think of rabbit stew, some."
+
+"Beats any rabbit you ever ate; just wait," prophesied the trapper, who
+knew that once Steve overcame his prejudice he would admit as much
+himself.
+
+Bandy-legs had finished dressing, and as he lacked certain garments to
+complete his attire, the other boys temporarily helped him out. When his
+own were dry he would return the borrowed articles.
+
+As though desirous of doing penance because of his wretched failure as a
+prank player, Bandy-legs did work, bringing wood to the outside of the
+cabin with unwonted zeal.
+
+Indeed, the trapper finally had to stop him.
+
+"Looks like you meant to swamp us with firewood, son," he remarked,
+surveying the pile that was heaped up against the side of the cabin.
+
+"Huh, thought I'd get enough while I was about it," Bandy-legs replied.
+
+"Well, you've done yourself proud, my boy, and I reckon I'd stop now.
+We've got all we can use till to-morrow night. And I don't like too big a
+stack against the cabin wall. A spark from the chimney might set her
+going, and I'd hate to be burned out."
+
+The supper was a success.
+
+Of course they had plenty of other things to eat besides Steve's pet
+dish. The boys made sure of this, not fancying the idea of having to
+depend upon the musquash alone.
+
+All of them but Steve tasted it and declared it fine. He could not be
+coaxed to even sample it at the time; but Old Jim believed Steve would
+come around in time.
+
+"It's just because these plump little critters are so common," he
+remarked, with a smile of satisfaction, as he emptied the balance of the
+stew into his own pannikin. "If they cost four dollars each, now, and
+only the millionaires could buy 'em, you'd think they beat anything
+going."
+
+"Yes," said bookworm Owen, "that's the way it was with diamond-back
+terrapin. Time was in Virginia and North Carolina, yes, in Maryland, too,
+when a man hired out to a planter along the coast, he had it entered in
+the contract that he was not to be fed on terrapin. They were looked on
+at that time as common stuff. To-day the rich pay five dollars apiece for
+decent-sized little fellows. You're right, Uncle Jim, it makes a lot of
+difference."
+
+Talking in this strain, and picking up useful as well as interesting
+information from time to time, as Trapper Jim explained things to the
+boys who were his guests, the evening passed pleasantly away.
+
+Even Bandy-legs seemed to forget his recent troubles part of the time.
+
+Max, seeing him rub various portions of his body tenderly, asked whether
+he had really been burned. And when the baffled joker was induced to show
+several red marks, Max insisted on applying a soothing lotion, which took
+out much of the pain.
+
+It was an evening long to be remembered by the boys. Steve's turn to
+occupy the extra bunk had come around, and he felt in high feather in
+consequence, while the other boys had to select their places on the
+floor.
+
+But everyone seemed in the best of humor, and the soft furs promised to
+make just as good beds as they could wish.
+
+When Max stepped out just before retiring to see how the weather promised
+for the morrow, he found a clear sky, the moon just peeping into view,
+and a wholesome tang in the air.
+
+And as Max stood listening to the far-away mournful call of an owl to its
+mate, and noted the flood of soft moonlight, it was no wonder he said to
+himself:
+
+"I tell you it's good to be here!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+STEVE STARTS GAME.
+
+
+"Wish you fellows luck!" said Owen.
+
+It was the next morning. Breakfast had been dispatched, and there was
+still a distinct odor of bacon and coffee in the air.
+
+All of them were getting ready for the duties laid out for the day; and
+this remark of Owen's had been intended for Max and Steve.
+
+Eager to indulge in a hunt, with the dim prospect of bringing home a fine
+deer, Steve had begged Trapper Jim to let him go. This was on the evening
+before, while they sat by the blazing fire in the cabin.
+
+Now Old Jim had, of course, sized up impulsive Steve pretty well before
+now. He liked the boy very much, for he knew Steve was warm-hearted and a
+true comrade. But he hardly fancied having so impatient a lad go off by
+himself.
+
+Accordingly, he had told Steve that if he could get Max to keep him
+company on a little hunt, he would post them with regard to where they
+were most likely to run across game.
+
+And Max had only too gladly agreed.
+
+He had a new magazine 30-30 repeating rifle. It was a small bore, but by
+using the soft-nosed bullets that mushroom out upon striking even the
+flesh of an animal, it would prove just as powerful as a heavier
+gun.
+
+And Max was secretly just wild to try it on a deer, though he did not
+show his feelings the same way Steve would have done.
+
+Both boys were ready to start out when the others left to make a round of
+the traps. They had received final instructions from Trapper Jim.
+
+"Got your compass, Max?" asked his cousin.
+
+"It's O.K.," replied the other, touching his pocket, suggestively.
+
+"D-d-don't forget your g-g-grub," said Toby.
+
+"Both of us got the snack of lunch stowed away," Steve made answer, as he
+pointed to the bulging side of his khaki hunting coat that had a game
+pocket running all the way around inside, "big enough almost to stow a
+deer in," Steve had laughingly declared.
+
+"But I hardly think Max would ever need a compass," Bandy-legs observed.
+"You know he never yet was lost in the woods."
+
+"Glad to hear that, son," remarked Trapper Jim.
+
+"Sure thing," Bandy-legs went on to say, "Max, he can tell the points of
+the compass by the bark or the green moss on the trees, by the way the
+trees lean, and lots of other ways; can't you, Max!"
+
+But the other only smiled, as though he thought there was no need of his
+wasting breath when, as Steve declared, he could have a loyal chum "blow
+his horn" for him.
+
+"All ready here, Max," announced Steve, anxious to start.
+
+So, with a few parting words the two hunters left the vicinity of the
+cabin in the forest. The others were just about ready to start out to
+learn what the various traps contained.
+
+"Don't forget about that bear, Uncle Jim!" shouted Steve.
+
+"I sure won't," answered the old man, waving his hand.
+
+"If he's been back over that trail you'll lug out Old Tom and give him a
+chance to earn his keep, won't you!" pursued Steve.
+
+"That's right, I will."
+
+Satisfied with the answer, Steve followed after Max.
+
+Now, although Steve had shot quail and ducks, rabbits and squirrels, he
+was not a big-game hunter. As yet he had to secure his first deer. And as
+the sporting instinct was coming on very markedly in the boy, he was
+anxious to be able to say he had shot a "lordly" buck.
+
+It was always that, with Steve, whenever he boasted of the great things
+he intended doing on a projected hunt. No ordinary doe seemed ever to
+enter into his calculations at all.
+
+"And a five-pronged buck, too," he declared. "I wouldn't waste my
+precious time with anything less."
+
+Knowing that Max had had more or less experience in the line of hunting,
+Steve was secretly pleased to take lessons. There might be times when
+Steve was inclined to boast that he knew it all; but when out with Max he
+felt that this style of bluff would not go.
+
+They headed in the direction the trapper had laid out for them. Since the
+old man had spent many years around this region it stood to reason that
+he ought to know a good deal concerning the places where game was most
+likely to be found.
+
+"Think we'll get one, Max?" asked Steve, after they had been walking for
+nearly a full hour through the forest.
+
+"It's a toss-up," replied the other; "hunting always is, because you
+never know whether the game is there or not. And even if you are lucky
+enough to start something, perhaps you'll fail to bring it down."
+
+Steve laughed incredulously.
+
+"Trust me to do that same," he avowed, "if only I can get my peepers on a
+five-pronged buck. Think of what I've got in the barrels of my gun, Max,
+twelve separate bullets in each shell, and propelled by nearly four drams
+of powder. Wow! I'd sure hate to be the luckless deer that stood up
+before all that ammunition."
+
+"Especially when the keen eye and sure hand of Steve Dowdy is back of it
+all," chuckled Max.
+
+"Oh, well, I don't want to boast, you know, Max, 'cause I might happen to
+make a foozle out of it. I was only speaking of the hard-hitting
+qualities of this little double-barreled Marlin of mine, that's all."
+
+"Well, we must wait and see," said Max. "Perhaps you'll make good right
+in the start; and then, again, something might throw you down. The proof
+of the pudding's in the eating of it, they say."
+
+"Oh, I do hope we get a deer, even if it doesn't fall to my gun," Steve
+continued to say. "It'd be too bad now if we spent a whole two weeks up
+here with Trapper Jim and never tasted any game besides measly squirrel,
+rabbit, or maybe partridge, if they're still to be had."
+
+"You forget musquash," added Max.
+
+"Bah! I _wanted_ to forget it," declared the other.
+
+"Suppose we knock off talking for a while, Steve," suggested Max. "We're
+coming to one of the places he said we might find deer. And they've got
+pretty sharp ears, let me tell you right now."
+
+"But you said we were always hunting up against the wind, so our scent
+wouldn't be carried to the game," Steve observed.
+
+"That's true enough, Steve, but even then good deer hunters seldom talk
+above whispers when they expect to run across game. This is one of the
+times when we can apply that old maxim we used to write in our copy books
+at school."
+
+"Sure, I remember it well," chuckled Steve, "'speech may be silver, but
+silence is gold.' I'm dumb, Max."
+
+And for a wonder, not another word did Steve utter for over half an hour.
+As he was usually such a talkative fellow, this keeping still must have
+been in the line of great punishment to Steve.
+
+But, then, there are times when the sporting instinct sways all else. And
+Steve understood that still hunting deer meant a padlock on the lips.
+
+After all, disappointment awaited them.
+
+They put in a solid hour looking over all the territory first mentioned
+by Trapper Jim, but without starting a single deer.
+
+"They've been around," Max finally observed, "and not long ago either,
+because you can see the tracks as fresh as anything; but it must have
+been yesterday, because they're not here now."
+
+"Looky!" exclaimed Steve, "here's where a five-pronged buck must 'a'
+rubbed himself against this tree, because there's a big bunch of red hair
+sticking to the rough bark. Glory! Wouldn't I like to have been about
+over there by the log when he was doing it. Oh, such a shot!"
+
+"You could hardly have missed him from there," laughed Max.
+
+"What next?" asked the disappointed one.
+
+"The sun's getting up pretty near the top of its range. That means it's
+near noon time," remarked Max.
+
+"And time for grub, eh?" cried Steve. "Well, I won't be sorry, believe
+me, for several reasons. First place, I'm hungry as all get-out. Then,
+again, I'm tired of toting all this stuff around. Say when, Max."
+
+"Oh, we'll keep on for half an hour more till we come to a stream where
+we can get a drink. Then in the afternoon we'll circle around some, so as
+to reach the other promising section Jim told us about. Come on, Steve."
+
+Nothing rewarded their search; and chancing upon a gurgling creek about
+the end of the half hour, the two boys found a log to sit down upon.
+
+After eating they rested for quite a spell.
+
+Finally Steve could stand it no longer, but urged his companion to "get a
+move on him." So once again the two hunters walked on.
+
+Steve was beginning to complain of being nearly done up, when Max asked
+him not to talk again only in a whisper, as they were now close upon the
+other feeding ground of the coveted deer.
+
+And this caused Steve to brighten up immediately. In his eagerness to
+find game his pains were forgotten.
+
+Max arranged that they separate and advance along parallel lines, so as
+to cover more territory.
+
+He had been going on himself some little time when suddenly he heard
+Steve's gun roar. A second shot followed fast on the heels of the first,
+and Max, excited, ran in the direction of the sounds. A few minutes later
+he heard the lusty voice of Steve calling out:
+
+"Take care, Max, he knows you're coming! Run for it! He's starting for
+you! Get a tree, Max, get a tree! He's a holy terror!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE UNWELCOME GUEST.
+
+
+Max saw what had happened in that one glance he took.
+
+Steve had met his deer at last; and sure enough it was a sturdy buck that
+had five prongs to his antlers, showing his years.
+
+Whatever upset Steve could only be guessed; but although he had certainly
+sent in two shots he had failed to bag the game.
+
+Perhaps he wounded the deer with the first shot and the animal had
+fallen. Flushed with triumph, Steve had given a yell and started to
+hasten toward his quarry with the intention of bleeding it, as he
+understood should be done.
+
+Then, when the buck scrambled to his feet, and charged straight at the
+young hunter, Steve had been so rattled that he missed entirely with his
+second shot.
+
+After that it was run or take to a tree for Steve.
+
+And sheltered behind an oak, around which he had been chased again and
+again by the angry buck, Steve had seen his chum appear in sight.
+
+It was then he shouted his warning.
+
+Max had no intention of picking out a tree for himself, as Steve
+suggested; at least not so early in the game. Time enough for that when
+he found he had made as bad a bungle of the affair as his chum seemed to
+have done.
+
+Here was the fine chance to try his new rifle that he had been hoping
+would come along.
+
+"Look out!"
+
+Max hardly heard this last warning, cry from the boy who looked out
+behind the friendly oak. He had dropped on his right knee and raised his
+gun.
+
+The buck was coming on pretty fast, considering the fact that he seemed
+to limp and be losing blood from the wound Steve had given him.
+
+Max knew he had a difficult task to place his bullet where it was
+calculated to do the most good. There was little of the deer's breast
+exposed as with lowered head he charged toward this new enemy. But Max
+had all the necessary requisites that go to make up the good hunter--a
+quick eye, a sure hand, and excellent judgment in a pinch.
+
+He took a quick aim, and meant to fire while the buck was still a little
+way off. This was to give him a chance to pump a new cartridge into the
+firing chamber of his gun in case the first shot failed to do the work.
+
+After that--well, of course, there still remained the tree Steve
+recommended, and Steve ought to know a good thing when he saw it, since
+he had been saved from those really dangerous-looking antlers by a
+sheltering tree.
+
+But, then, Max did not mean to register a miss.
+
+He pressed the trigger at just the right time as the buck was rising in
+the air. And when he saw the deer crash to the ground, although he felt a
+thrill of satisfaction, cautious Max was not like Steve, rushing headlong
+forward to bleed his game.
+
+On the contrary, his first act was to go through the rapid action that
+placed his rifle in serviceable condition again.
+
+"Take care, Max," yelled Steve, seeing the buck struggling, "that's how
+he fooled me, the sharp dodger! He's the tricky one, all right, you bet!
+Watch him climb up again, now! Take that big tree right alongside you,
+Max!"
+
+But instead of doing this Max advanced toward the spot where the buck had
+fallen. He was ready to send in another shot should it be needed. But
+there was no necessity.
+
+The buck gave one last violent kick and then lay still.
+
+"All over, Steve; you can come along," said Max, beckoning toward the
+other.
+
+Steve stopped to pick up his gun, examined it with apparent solicitude,
+as if to make sure it had not been injured, and then carefully replaced
+the discharged shells with fresh ones.
+
+"You never can tell what them there old five-pronged bucks _will_ do," he
+said, as he came up to where Max stood, surveying their prize; "and it's
+best to be on the safe side; so that's why I waited to load my gun."
+
+"And I reckon, Steve," said Max, with a smile, "that if you'd waited
+before to see if your buck got up again, you'd have downed him for keeps
+with that second barrel, and then you wouldn't have had to hunt up the
+safe side of a tree."
+
+"Guess that's all to the good, Max," replied the other, humbly.
+
+"Pretty fine-looking buck, ain't he, Steve?"
+
+"Well, I should say yes," was the answer. "And just to think he's the
+very five-pronged old boy I've been talking about this long while."
+
+"My, but he acted as though he was mad at you!" Max went on, anxious to
+hear some of the particulars of what had happened.
+
+"That's straight goods, Max, and he had reason to be mad at me. I plunked
+him with that first shot and he went down. I thought I had him and
+started to run in, when, shucks, he got up again!"
+
+"Then you fired again, but so rapidly that you missed; was that it,
+Steve?"
+
+"Oh, I admit I was some rattled," replied the other.
+
+"And then after you missed him, Steve?"
+
+"Huh, after that things commenced to happen. They came so fast they kind
+of got me twisted," and Steve made a comical face with this statement
+that almost set the other off into a roar of laughter.
+
+But he knew that if he gave way it might offend Steve and cause him to
+bottle up his explanation; so Max held in.
+
+"And then?" he went on.
+
+"Oh," said Steve, "I saw a tree and headed for it kerslam. But the old
+buck he seemed to be on the high-speed gear himself. First thing I knew
+he bumped me for fair, and then came back to stick me with his horns. But
+I didn't just care for knowing him any closer, and I rolled out of the
+way."
+
+"You managed to get your tree after that, didn't you, Steve?"
+
+"Seems like I did, Max, though honest to goodness, now, if you asked me
+how I did it I couldn't tell you. Reckon I must have just _flown_."
+
+"Yes," laughed Max, "they always say fear has wings."
+
+"Oh, now, looky here, you're mistaken, Max, sure you are. I wasn't afraid
+right then, only somewhat rattled."
+
+"From the excitement of the thing," remarked Max. "Of course, and anybody
+would have been about the same. But lend a hand here and let's turn our
+deer over, Steve. I want to see where you hit him."
+
+This they speedily accomplished; and then Steve, who had been pondering
+over something, broke loose again.
+
+"Max," he said, with a little quiver to his voice, "I noticed just now
+that you said _our_ deer. Do you mean to let me claim a share in this
+thing, then?"
+
+"Why, of course," replied the other, as if in surprise; "we both shot
+him. See, here's where a buckshot from your gun struck him in the side.
+They must have scattered more than you thought they'd do at such a short
+distance."
+
+"Yes," said Steve; "looks like it. But, Max, it was you who killed him."
+
+"Oh, I ended him, that's right," said Max, who was nothing if not
+generous, "but only for you holding him here after wounding him, where
+would I have come in? Why, I'd never have had the first sight of the
+buck."
+
+"Yes, that's so," said Steve, smiling grimly, "I _held_ him all right,
+didn't I? But when he was chasing me around that old tree so lively, Max,
+somehow I didn't happen to look at it that way. Fact is, I thought the
+plagued buck was holding me."
+
+"All the same," declared Max in a tone that settled it, "we got him, and
+both of us gave him a chance to bleed. You weakened him at first, you
+know."
+
+"Oh, did I?" remarked Steve, feeling of his ribs, as if to make sure none
+of them were broken. "Well, you see, I can't help but wonder what would
+have happened to me if the old beast hadn't been weakened, just like you
+say."
+
+That was too much for Max. And, besides, having coaxed the whole story
+from his chum now, he thought it would not matter very much if he did
+indulge in a good laugh.
+
+To his surprise Steve joined in. Evidently the realization that he had
+actually helped kill a genuine five-pronged buck, fulfilling his wildest
+dream, caused Steve to be less "touchy" than usual.
+
+"But we must manage to get him home some way, Max," he remarked after a
+while, when they had grown weary of admiring their prize.
+
+"Think we could tote several hundred pounds four miles?" demanded Max.
+"If it was a little doe, now, I might be willing to tie the legs along a
+pole and try it; but I balk at this big chap."
+
+"Then what shall we do?" asked Steve.
+
+"I'm going to cut it up the best way I know how," his chum replied. "All
+we want to take along is one hind quarter. Plenty on that for two meals.
+And like as not we'll find the old chap pretty tough."
+
+Accordingly the boys set to work. Steve knew next to nothing about such
+things, but was willing to do whatever his comrade asked of him. And
+while Max professed to be a clumsy butcher, he certainly did his work in
+a way to draw out words of praise from the delighted chum.
+
+"There, that job is done," said Max, when the sun was nearly halfway down
+the western sky, "and I'm glad of it, too."
+
+"We can take turns carrying the hind quarter," remarked Steve, hefting
+it; "after all, it doesn't seem so very heavy."
+
+"I'm going to wrap it in the skin, which I removed the first thing," Max
+continued.
+
+"But it's too bad to leave all the rest of our fine buck," sighed Steve.
+
+"Oh, don't think I mean to let the foxes and other animals make way with
+the rest of the venison! I've got this rope here around my waist; you
+know it comes in handy sometimes."
+
+Steve laughed.
+
+"For pulling silly fellows out of quicksand and bog holes," he remarked.
+"Oh, yes, don't think I've forgotten what happened in that Great Dismal
+Swamp. But do you mean to yank the carcass up in a tree, Max? Is that the
+way you expect to use the rope?"
+
+Max nodded in reply.
+
+They soon accomplished this.
+
+Max seemed to know just how to go about it, and presently the balance of
+the deer swung there in space, six feet or more from the ground, and as
+many below the strong limb over which the rope had been thrown.
+
+"Think it'll be safe, do you?" asked Steve, puffing from the exertion of
+pulling such a weight upward.
+
+"From every kind of animal but a bobcat. If one of that tribe happens
+along and is hungry, of course he could drop down on the upper part and
+munch away," was the reply Max made.
+
+"Which happens to be the fore quarters of the buck, the part we don't
+care about so much," said Steve.
+
+"Oh, I had that in mind when I fixed the rope, Steve."
+
+"I might have guessed it, because you're always thinking ahead, Max. And
+shall we start for home now?"
+
+"Shortly. Let's get rested a bit more. And I want to fix directions
+straight in my mind so we'll hit the cabin first shot," Max answered.
+
+"Four miles, you said, didn't you?" Steve asked, with a big sigh; for now
+that the excitement was over he began to feel tired again.
+
+"That's what Uncle Jim said," remarked Max.
+
+After a while they started on their way and trudged along nearly two
+miles in silence, Steve insisting on sharing the load, which Max had made
+possible by fastening the venison to a pole, so that each could grasp it.
+
+"Max," said Steve about this time.
+
+"Yes, what is it?" replied the other, as they changed places.
+
+"Catamounts and lynx and bobcats like fresh meat, of course; but you
+don't think now, do you, Max, they'd hurt those beautiful five-pronged
+horns?"
+
+"Of course not," replied the other, walking on again.
+
+"Because we ought to get those to mount and keep in one of our rooms at
+home, Max."
+
+"Your room, Steve; you're a thousand times welcome to my share in them."
+
+"Oh, thank you, Max, that's awful kind."
+
+After a wearisome march they approached the cabin. It was late in the
+afternoon, but no friendly smoke arose from the chimney.
+
+The returned hunters saw this fact with astonishment.
+
+"What does it mean!" Steve remarked, as they came to a halt and set their
+burden down upon the ground.
+
+"Hi, fellows!" called a voice.
+
+Some one stepped out of the bushes across the little clearing and waved
+his hand. It was Owen, and he seemed to be beckoning in the most
+mysterious manner possible.
+
+Max and Steve exchanged puzzled looks.
+
+"What in the dickens is up now!" exclaimed the latter.
+
+"Owen wants us to cross over to where he is," Max went on to say; "and I
+reckon the quickest way to find out is to join him."
+
+"Ginger, I can see Toby there, too; yes, and now I get a glimpse of
+Trapper Jim and Bandy-legs! They're all sitting in a row on that log,
+Max, and lookin' solemn-like at the cabin. What in the wide world is up?
+She ain't a-fire that I can notice."
+
+"Come along; let's find out," said Max, stooping to his end of the pole
+upon which the hind quarter of venison was slung.
+
+"I'll just bust if I don't know soon, because I hate mysteries," muttered
+Steve, as he copied the example of his chum.
+
+When the two victorious hunters came upon the rest, Jim and Toby and
+Bandy-legs got up off the log. They even smiled a little, but Max thought
+there was something rather forced about this half grin.
+
+"What's happened?" he asked.
+
+"Yes," added Steve impetuously, "what are you all pulling such long faces
+for, just like it was a funeral or something; tell us that?"
+
+"It _is_ something nigh as bad as a funeral," said Trapper Jim, a twinkle
+appearing in his eye.
+
+"We're certainly bereft--of our home," added Owen, making a wry face.
+
+"What!" gasped Steve, looking from the speaker across to the cabin.
+
+"It's not exactly a funeral, but an eviction," remarked Owen again.
+
+"He means," said Bandy-legs, "we're kicked out of our cabin--that
+to-night we'll have to sleep on the cold, hard ground, with only the sky
+for a blanket. And what's worse, it was my turn to try that jolly old
+bunk. Hang the luck, why couldn't he stay where he belonged and leave us
+alone!"
+
+"Say, if it's an animal that's got in, and is holding the fort, why,
+let's go up and cross-fire him from the windows," suggested impetuous
+Steve.
+
+"Not on your life!" exclaimed Trapper Jim, catching hold of Steve before
+he could break away. "That's just what we _don't_ want to do--disturb him
+too violently or kill him while he chooses to hold the fort there."
+
+"But why are you so careful about his health, Uncle Jim?" asked the
+bewildered Steve.
+
+"Because our guest happens to be a striped skunk!" was the appalling
+answer he received.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+SMOKING THE INTRUDER OUT.
+
+
+"A polecat!" gasped Steve. "Thunder! What a nice mess we're in."
+
+"That's just what," echoed Bandy-legs. "It's half an hour now since Uncle
+Jim sighted the striped beast through the window. He was a-settin' on the
+table then, and having a spread all by himself. Then, of course, after
+that he gets sleepy, and I just bet you right now he's curled up as nice
+as you please in the very bunk I expected to occupy to-night. Just my
+luck!"
+
+"But we ought to get rid of him," said Max, hardly knowing whether to
+laugh or feel provoked, for he was very tired and hungry and did not
+enjoy the prospect of sleeping out-of-doors without even a solitary
+blanket, while that saucy little beast retained possession of the whole
+cabin.
+
+"We've been waiting and watching and hoping this half hour and more,"
+said Owen, with a rather forlorn smile; "but still he doesn't come out of
+the window where he must have gone in."
+
+"H-h-he likes it in t-t-there. Most c-c-comfortable place he ever
+s-s-struck," Toby remarked.
+
+"Where were the dogs when he went in?" Max asked.
+
+"Off with us," replied Owen.
+
+"We got back an hour before noon," Trapper Jim remarked. "After lunch we
+hung around for a while and I fixed all the pelts we brought in."
+
+"Any mink?" asked Steve, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, one good pelt," answered Jim. "Then, about the middle of the
+afternoon I said we might take a little range around on our own hook and
+set the bear trap in the bargain, for the old chap had been along the
+trail to the marsh again."
+
+"Bully!" exclaimed Steve, who was hard to keep quiet.
+
+"We tied the dogs some little distance away from where we meant to set
+our bear trap, because they'd want to follow the trail and spoil
+everything," Uncle Jim went on.
+
+"And we helped him set her, too," remarked Bandy-legs, proudly.
+
+"Yes, if we get a bear, it'll be partly yours, boys," the trapper went on
+to say. "After that part of the business had been carried out we started
+on our hunt. But to tell you the truth, boys, we never saw a thing worth
+shooting."
+
+Max suspected that Toby and Bandy-legs made so much noise floundering
+through the dry leaves that they gave every squirrel and rabbit plenty of
+warning, so that they could make themselves scarce long before the
+expedition came along.
+
+But if this was the truth Trapper Jim would not say so. What were a few
+rabbits or squirrels in comparison with the company of these jolly,
+interesting boys? The game he had with him all the time, but not so Owen,
+Toby, and Bandy-legs.
+
+"Then we came home again," said Owen, taking up the story; "and it was by
+the greatest luck ever that Uncle Jim just happened to look in at the
+open window and discovered the skunk. Just think what might have happened
+if we'd burst in on the little beast and scared it!"
+
+"And me with only one suit, which is bad enough as it is, having holes
+burned in it, without having to bury the same," Bandy-legs remarked.
+
+"Oh," said Steve, "you wouldn't have felt it much, for p'r'aps we'd have
+buried you with your clothes. But, however, are we going to coax him
+out of there, boys?"
+
+"I move Steve be appointed a committee of one to go and ask our friend
+the skunk to vacate the ranch," said Owen.
+
+"A good idea," added Max. "Steve, he's got a most convincing way with
+animals. They take to him on sight."
+
+"Yes, that five-pronged buck did, you're right, Max," admitted the
+candidate for fresh honors. "But I draw the line on skunks."
+
+"They ain't got a line; Uncle Jim says it's a stripe," vociferated
+Bandy-legs.
+
+"But the day's nearly done and we've got to do something about it,"
+remarked Trapper Jim. "Can't one of you think up a way? He acts like
+he meant to stay in there as long as the feed holds out."
+
+"Perhaps he's heard the dogs," suggested Owen. "We've got them tied up
+close by, and every little while one gives a yelp."
+
+"They seem to just know there's something up," declared Bandy-legs.
+
+"S-s-sure t-t-thing," added Toby, seriously.
+
+"Max, haven't you got a plan?" asked the owner of the cabin, turning
+toward the other eagerly, as though he guessed that if they found help at
+all it would be in this quarter.
+
+"I was just thinking of something," replied the boy, smiling.
+
+"Yes, go on," Trapper Jim continued.
+
+"We couldn't coax him out, and if we tried to frighten the little rascal
+it'd be all day with our staying in that cabin again while we boys are up
+here. But perhaps he might be made to feel so unpleasant in there that
+he'd be glad to move off."
+
+"Good for you, Max; I can see you've got an idea," cried out Jim,
+approvingly.
+
+"I don't think skunks like smoke any more than any other wild animals!"
+Max ventured.
+
+"Smoke!" ejaculated Steve. "Hallelujah! Max has caught on to a bully good
+idea. Let's smoke the little beggar out. Everyone get busy now."
+
+"Hold on," said Trapper Jim, catching Steve by the sleeve again; "go
+slow."
+
+"Yes, go mighty slow," complained Bandy-legs. "You know well enough,
+Steve Dowdy, that I can't smoke at all. There's no use of my trying,
+because it makes me awful sick every time."
+
+"Listen to that, would you!" laughed Steve. "The simple believes we're
+all going to get pipes and blow the smoke through some chinks in the
+cabin walls. Cheer up, old fellow, it ain't quite as bad as that."
+
+"When we've got some stuff that will burn," continued Max, "I'll climb up
+on the roof, set fire to it, and drop it down the chimney. Then after it
+gets a good start I'll follow it with some weeds Uncle Jim will gather,
+and which he knows must send out a dense smoke after I've clapped a board
+over the top of the chimney flue."
+
+"Bravo!" cried Owen, so loud that the chained dogs near by started
+barking.
+
+"A very original scheme," said Trapper Jim, patting Max on the back. "And
+the sooner we start in to try how it works, the better."
+
+"I've got only one objection," Steve spoke up.
+
+"Well, let's hear it," demanded Owen, frowning.
+
+"I think Max ought to let Bandy-legs run that part of the business,"
+Steve went on to say, "he knows more about chimneys than all the rest of
+the push put together. He's examined 'em from top to bottom inside."
+
+"Oh, rats!" mocked the one upon whose unwilling head all these high
+honors were being heaped.
+
+"I object," spoke up Toby, bound to have his say. "B-b-bandy-legs never
+c-c-could resist the t-t-temp-tation to d-d-drop in himself. And think
+what'd h-h-happen if the s-s-skunk saw him comin' out of the
+f-f-fireplace a-whoopin'."
+
+"Let's get the stuff to burn, lads," said Trapper Jim, who certainly
+enjoyed hearing the boys chaff each other in this way. "And everybody
+keep away from that side of the house where the window stands open."
+
+They were not long in finding what they wanted.
+
+"Make this up in a little bundle, boys, so I can drop it down quick after
+I've set a match to it," and Max gathered the dry stuff together as he
+spoke, waiting for one of the rest to tie it with a cord.
+
+"And this other I'd drop down loose like," said Trapper Jim, as he held
+up the bunch of half-dead weeds he had collected. "These give out the
+blackest smoke you ever saw, and if you shut off the draft after they get
+going good and hard, nothing living could stay long in that cabin."
+
+"That's the ticket!" remarked Steve, enthusiastically.
+
+He certainly did enjoy action more than any one of the chums. Steve was
+happy only when there was "something doing," even though the source of
+excitement lay in a miserable little highly scented skunk that had taken
+a liking to Jim's cozy cabin and seemed ready to remain there
+indefinitely.
+
+So they adjourned to the rear of the little squatty structure. Everybody
+took great care to keep away from the one open window. Some of the boys
+had had little or no experience with the species of friendly animal now
+occupying their quarters. Still, it was strange how great a respect for
+his feelings they entertained. Why, no fellow seemed to want to even be
+_seen_ looking rudely in.
+
+Max readily climbed upon the roof.
+
+He purposely made considerable noise while so doing, and for good
+reasons. It was just as well that the inmate of Jim's cabin knew they
+were around and objected to his remaining there.
+
+And then, again, Max had a little fear lest the skunk make a sudden
+appearance, popping out of the chimney before he could really get busy.
+That event, should it take place, would likely enough upset all his
+well-planned calculations.
+
+Max under such conditions would wisely seek safety in flight. Indeed, he
+had already picked out the very place where he could jump from the roof
+of the cabin and make sure of landing in a soft spot.
+
+As soon as he reached the roof he hurried over to the chimney, intending
+to start operations by dropping something down.
+
+"I ought to notify the little rascal that the flue is marked dangerous,"
+Max was saying to himself, "so that if he's started up he can just back
+down again."
+
+Fortunately nothing happened, and Max was not compelled to take that
+sudden flying leap.
+
+The chimney, as is the case with all log cabins, was built on the
+outside. It was composed of slabs of wood, secured with a mortar made
+principally of certain mud.
+
+In process of time this became thoroughly baked, and the heat assisted in
+this transformation. It was now as hard as flint rock.
+
+That the flue was a generous one we already know. Had that not been the
+case Bandy-legs could never have fallen down through it to land in the
+fireplace below.
+
+Max had counted on this fact.
+
+Having notified the intruder to keep away from the fireplace under
+penalty of getting hurt, and feeling that the way was now open to
+undertake the carrying out of his little scheme, Max returned to the
+point where he had reached the roof.
+
+The others had seen to it that the balance of his dry stuff was placed
+where he could lay hands on the same. So Max by degrees dumped all this
+down after the first lot.
+
+"Now to set it going," he remarked.
+
+"You seem to be having a bully old time up there all by your lonely," said
+Steve, half enviously.
+
+"Oh, I'm a cheerful worker," Max replied.
+
+He had arranged some of the best of the stuff so that after applying a
+match he could send it down upon the top of all that had gone before.
+
+"How is it?" asked Trapper Jim, who was standing on something or other,
+so that his head came above the low, almost flat roof.
+
+"It's burning all right; I can see it taking hold," came the reply from
+Max, who had been cautiously peering down the gaping chimney.
+
+"Then take this stuff and follow suit," remarked the other, handing up
+the armful of weeds he had himself gathered.
+
+"Hurry up about it, too, Max," sang out Steve. "We want the show to
+begin. It's cold down here, believe me."
+
+"Oh, it'll be warm enough," declared the owner of the cabin, "if that
+onary little beast turns this way after he crawls out of the window. And
+I'll advise you all to give him plenty of room."
+
+"We will, thank you," the others sang out in a chorus. "Oh, you skunk, we
+like you--at a distance! Go ahead, Max, fix him!"
+
+Having dropped the weeds Jim had selected down the flue, Max only waited
+until the black smoke began to pour out.
+
+Then he quickly clapped a board Jim happened to own over the top.
+
+"That ends my part of the work here," he called out, crawling over to the
+side of the cabin where he could have an unobstructed view.
+
+Heads appeared around the corners of the structure, but no soul was
+venturesome enough to dare show himself in plain view.
+
+And so they waited to see what the result of the bright plan would be.
+Already smoke was oozing out of the opening on the side, and it did not
+seem possible that anything but a salamander could stand the stifling
+fumes much longer.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+BEFORE THE BLAZING LOGS.
+
+
+"He's coming!" called out Max from above.
+
+"Take care, everybody!" cried Trapper Jim.
+
+In one way it was laughable to see the tremendous excitement caused by
+the small striped animal with the bushy tail. The skunk emerged from the
+window in something of haste. Reaching the ground it seemed to cast one
+look backward, as though either feeling provoked at being forced to
+vacate such nice quarters, or else wondering what all that rank odor of
+smoldering weeds meant.
+
+Then the skunk sauntered jauntily off toward the woods, looking as saucy
+as you please. The dogs bayed from their place of confinement; the boys
+stepped out to wave their hands after their departing guest; but not one
+was bold enough to wish to lay a hand on him.
+
+"Good-by and good luck!" called Trapper Jim.
+
+"Next time don't stay so long," laughed Owen.
+
+"He's little, but oh, my, how mighty!" remarked Steve.
+
+"Look out, he's stopped!" shrieked Bandy-legs, and with that everybody
+made a headlong plunge back of the cabin again.
+
+Indeed, Bandy-legs himself hid in a thicket and looked rather white on
+reappearing again after Max sang out that the coast was clear.
+
+"They say one swallow don't make a spring," remarked Owen, when all
+danger was over, "but it strikes me one polecat does."
+
+Of course, since the object of his labor had now been successfully
+accomplished, Max took the board away from the top of the chimney.
+
+This allowed the smoke to escape in a normal way.
+
+But when they stepped inside the cabin the boys were loud in their
+expressions of disgust.
+
+"That weed was sure a corker for smell as well as smoke, Uncle Jim!"
+declared Owen.
+
+"Well, I guess you're right there," chuckled the trapper. "I admit it
+does run a pretty fair race with Mr. Skunk himself, and that's why they
+give it his name. But it did the business all right, eh, boys?"
+
+"That's what," assented Steve, who had been holding his breath until he
+could get used to the tainted atmosphere.
+
+"And we ought to be thankful it's no worse," declared Max, joining them.
+
+"Yes," Trapper Jim went on to say, "I remember a case where in a logging
+camp some greenhorn was foolish enough to kill one of the animals, and
+the result was they had to build new quarters. Nobody could stand it in
+the old place. There's nothing more lasting."
+
+"It ain't overly nice right now," asserted Steve. "I'm wondering which I
+like least, the perfume our visitor left or the one your old skunkweed
+made."
+
+"Oh, we'll soon change all that, boys," declared Trapper Jim. "Build up
+the fire and we'll get busy. Just wait and see how it's done."
+
+It was, after all, a very simple thing.
+
+Trapper Jim's idea seemed to be built on the principle that "like is
+cured by like." He believed in overpowering one odor with another.
+
+And when that cabin began to fill up with the appetizing scent of frying
+onions, flanked by that of some ground coffee, which Jim allowed to
+scorch close to the flames, even "hard-to-please Steve" admitted that
+everything seemed peaceful and lovely again.
+
+"But after this," he remarked, "I hope when we all go away from home
+we'll be careful to close the blinds as well as the door."
+
+"Yes," added Owen, "and hang out a sign 'This house is taken; no skunks
+need apply.' One dose was enough for me."
+
+"But, s-s-say, wasn't it a c-c-cunning little b-b-beast," observed Toby,
+"and d-d-didn't he look real sassy when he m-m-marched off with his
+t-t-tail up over his s-s-shoulder?"
+
+Steve looked at him severely.
+
+"You'd better be mighty careful how you admire one of them striped
+critters at close quarters, Toby, if ever you meet one in the woods," he
+remarked.
+
+"S-s-sure I will be careful," replied the other, with a wide grin.
+
+"Because," Steve went on to say, "if you ever do get in collision with
+one, we'll have to bury every stitch you've got on, crop your hair close,
+and make you sleep and live in some old hollow tree. Ain't that so, Uncle
+Jim!"
+
+"I guess that's about the size of it," came the reply.
+
+"Oh, you d-d-don't need to w-w-worry about me," Toby hastened to say. "I
+know enough to k-k-keep out of the r-r-rain. I d-d-don't like his
+l-l-loud ways any b-b-better'n the rest of you."
+
+"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," Steve continued, severely. "I'm a
+little suspicious about you, Toby, because you always did like cats. And
+I'm going to keep an eye out to-morrow for a handy hollow tree so's to be
+all ready."
+
+"Oh, s-s-shucks! I h-h-hope you'll n-n-need it your own self," was what
+Toby sent back at him.
+
+By the time supper was ready the boys were as hungry as a pack of wolves
+in January. And everything tasted so good, too.
+
+Trapper Jim showed them how to cook some of the venison in a most
+appetizing way. It was "some tough," as even the proud Steve admitted;
+but, then, what boy with a gnawing appetite ever bothered about such a
+small thing?
+
+The idea that they had actually shot the deer themselves would cover a
+multitude of sins in the eyes of the young Nimrods.
+
+And while they were satisfied that the disagreeable odor left behind by
+their unwelcome guest had been dissipated, Trapper Jim knew better. They
+would detect faint traces of it about the place for days to come, and
+find no difficulty about believing the trapper's story about the
+abandonment of a lumber camp.
+
+"Are all s-s-skunks s-s-striped like that one was?" asked Toby, during
+the progress of the meal.
+
+"There he goes again," burst out Steve; "I tell you, fellows, we're going
+to have a peck of trouble with this here inquirin' mind of Toby's."
+
+"G-g-go chase yourself!" blurted out the stuttering boy, indignantly.
+"I'm only tryin' to g-g-get information at c-c-close quarters."
+
+"And you'll get it, all right," chuckled Steve. "You'll be satisfied, I
+reckon; but think of us, what we'll have to stand. Just you let that
+close quarters racket die out, Toby Jucklin."
+
+"Some of the animals are jet black," remarked the trapper, "and they
+fetch a better price than the striped skins."
+
+"Glory be!" ejaculated Bandy-legs.
+
+"What's the matter with you?" demanded Steve.
+
+"You don't mean to tell me they use the skins for furs?" Bandy-legs
+continued.
+
+"Sure they do," replied Steve; "ain't that so, Uncle Jim?"
+
+"They make splendid furs," was what the trapper remarked. "The striped
+ones are dyed, of course. And they have a way of removing any faint odor
+that happens to remain."
+
+"Faint odor!" echoed Steve, sniffing the atmosphere. "I wonder if there
+ever is such a thing in connection with these awful beasts."
+
+"That shows you haven't read up about them, Steve," remarked Owen. "Why,
+there are a whole lot of skunk farms all over the Northern States."
+
+"You're fooling me, Owen," declared Steve, reproachfully.
+
+"How about it, Uncle Jim; am I kidding him?" demanded Owen, turning
+toward the old trapper, who was enjoying all this talk immensely.
+
+"Heaps of skunk farms, yes, siree," he replied, promptly. "They soon get
+to know the man who feeds them and give him no trouble. He's a peaceable
+little critter, and only when he gets excited does he go to extremes."
+
+"Well, I want to give 'em all a wide berth," Steve asserted. "And if I
+meet one in the woods I'm willing to let him have the whole path. I'd
+take off my hat and bow in the bargain, if I thought he wanted me to.
+Because I've got a whole lot of respect for the skunk family. They're
+just immense!"
+
+So they talked and jollied each other as they went on eating one of the
+"bulliest suppers" they had ever sat down to, as more than one of the
+boys loudly declared.
+
+The dogs had been brought in and were given their share from the remains
+of the venison that had been cooked, the balance of the hind quarter
+having been hung out in the frosty air.
+
+All of the boys had taken a decided fancy to the dogs, and in return the
+intelligent animals seemed to reciprocate this friendly feeling.
+Accustomed to sharing the cabin with the trapper at night as his only
+companions during the long winter months, they did not take kindly to the
+new rule that made them sleep out in a kennel while the boys were
+present. And when allowed inside they hugged the fire in a way that told
+how much they appreciated its cheery warmth.
+
+They were lying there later on in the night and Trapper Jim had just
+mentioned that it must be time for him to take the dogs out, when old
+Ajax lifted his head and growled. Immediately little yellow Don did the
+same.
+
+"What ails 'em?" asked Steve, as the dogs got up and stood there, the
+hair along their necks and backs rising up.
+
+"Oh, I reckon they scent some animal prowling around outside," remarked
+the trapper, making for the door.
+
+"Good gracious! I hope now it ain't that same old skunk come back because
+he's changed his mind!" exclaimed Bandy-legs, glancing hastily around, as
+if to see where he could hide.
+
+The trapper, however, seemed to know that there was no danger along those
+lines. He took down the bar, and, throwing open the door, stepped out.
+
+As he did so there was a sudden vicious snarl that thrilled the boys, and
+then the dogs bounded out with a chorus of wild barks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE TRAIL OF THE CLOG.
+
+
+The excitement was tremendous for the time being, with the barking of the
+two dogs and the cries of the boys.
+
+All of them had heard that savage snarl as Trapper Jim stepped out.
+
+"Was it a bobcat?" demanded Steve, who had been wise enough to snatch up
+his gun before following the trapper out of the door.
+
+"Just what it was," replied the other.
+
+"Three to one he was at our meat!" exclaimed Max.
+
+"You can see it swinging yet," declared Owen.
+
+"That's right, son," the trapper admitted; he was hanging to it when I
+broke out so sudden-like. When he snarled like that I ducked some,
+because it ain't the nicest thing a-going to have a bobcat on your
+shoulders. But I saw him make a spring and land among the branches of the
+tree. Then he was gone, and the dogs they run out, givin' tongue."
+
+"The moon's just climbin' in sight," said Steve, eagerly; "d'ye think I'd
+stand a chance to get a crack at him if I hurried along to where the dogs
+are barking like mad?"
+
+He acted as though seriously contemplating such a bold move. The trapper
+laid a hand on his shoulder.
+
+"You'd best stay just where you be, son," he said, quietly, but in a way
+Steve understood. "Only a foolish or reckless hunter'd try to get at
+lose quarters with a bobcat of nights. They scratch like fun, and there's
+always danger of blood poisoning from such wounds."
+
+So Steve was forced to restrain his ardor. But he relinquished his plan
+with rather bad grace.
+
+"I'll get you yet, old feller," he was heard to mutter, as they heard the
+wildcat emit a mocking, tantalizing cry at some little distance away.
+"You see if I don't, now!"
+
+And when Steve once set his mind upon accomplishing anything, he
+generally got there, for he was very persistent.
+
+Trapper Jim, thinking that the dogs had had all the excitement necessary,
+and wishing to put a stop to their racket, blew a whistle he carried.
+
+So well trained were the dogs that upon hearing the signal to return to
+their master they immediately stopped barking and a few minutes later
+Ajax showed up, quickly followed by Don.
+
+"You chased him off, didn't you?" said the trapper, stooping down to pat
+his pets by turns.
+
+The dogs each gave a single bark, as though to say "yes," and their
+wagging tails told how much they appreciated these few words of praise
+from their master.
+
+"Will the cat come back again, do you think?" Owen asked.
+
+"I reckon not," laughed Trapper Jim; "since he's found out we keep dogs
+around the camp. A bobcat hates dogs about as much as human beings do
+skunks. If you ever run across him again, Steve, it'll be somewhere else;
+p'r'aps up where you left the rest of your fine buck."
+
+"Well, he didn't get our breakfast, anyway," remarked Bandy-legs, quite
+bold again, since all the danger seemed past.
+
+"Will you leave it out there after this, Uncle Jim?" asked Max.
+
+"On the whole," replied the other, "I guess not. It'll keep all right
+indoors. And if that hungry cat should come back, the dogs'll smell him
+and keep up a tarnal barkin' that'll knock our sleep galley-west."
+
+So he proceeded to lower what was left of the venison, which was
+thereupon carried inside the house and hung up from the rafters, along
+with numerous other things--packages of dried herbs, stalks of tobacco
+which Jim had had sent up from Kentucky, where a friend grew the weed,
+and some dried venison that he called "pemmican" or jerked meat.
+
+As they were all tired and in need of a good night's rest, the boys were
+just as well pleased with this assurance that their sleep should not be
+broken.
+
+"I guess that pesky skunk didn't have time to crawl in my bunk,"
+announced Bandy-legs, in a satisfied tone, after sniffing the blankets
+carefully.
+
+"Oh, you're always seeing ghosts where there ain't none!" declared Steve.
+
+The night passed away without any serious disturbance. Once or twice
+there was an outbreak of barking on the part of the dogs, still haunted
+by memories of the bold bobcat that had dared come so close to the cabin.
+Trapper Jim had to go out once to quiet Ajax, whose deep-toned baying
+seemed to annoy him.
+
+Morning arrived, and the boys, as usual, were up at the first peep of
+day. There was so much to be done they could not waste time in trying to
+sleep after the darkness had gone.
+
+On this particular day quite a number of things awaited their attention.
+First of all they meant to seek the spot where the big bear trap had been
+set in the hopes that they would find Bruin caught.
+
+This was only a beginning.
+
+Next in order, Steve and Max had decided to start out, taking Toby along,
+and fetch in the balance of the venison, Toby had expressed a desire
+to see the arena where Steve and the five-pronged buck held their little
+circus. He also wished to try how fast he could hurry around that tree,
+so as to be prepared in case the time ever came when necessity would
+compel him to adopt the same tactics.
+
+Finally, Trapper Jim, and possibly the ether two boys, would have to make
+the rounds of the traps to take out any catch, and set them again.
+
+On the whole it promised to be a rather energetic day.
+
+Breakfast having been disposed of the boys all got ready to move on. This
+time the dogs were taken, because they might prove valuable in case a
+bear was caught. But Trapper Jim made sure to hold them in leash. He
+valued the dogs too much to think of taking any more chances of having
+them injured than he could help. There was no need of risking their lives
+with a trapped and furious bear when a single bullet would do the
+business.
+
+"Close that window, boys," said the trapper when they were ready to go.
+
+"You bet we will," declared Steve.
+
+"No more unwelcome guests--whew!" ventured Bandy-legs, as he started to
+accomplish the duty mentioned by the trapper.
+
+They made quite a large party as they sallied forth--five boys, the
+trapper, and the two dogs. Each of the boys had a gun of some sort, for
+they had provided themselves with weapons against this trip to the North
+Woods and two weeks or so with Trapper Jim.
+
+"I pity the poor bear," said Max, as he looked around at the assortment
+of weapons and the eager faces back of them.
+
+"He'll sure die of fright when he sees this bunch all in their war
+paint," Steve observed. "'Specially when he gets sight of Bandy-legs
+there with that silly old pump gun he bought and is afraid to use."
+
+"Who's afraid?" sang out the injured party. "I ain't used it just because
+there ain't been no chance yet, see? If I'd been along with Max when that
+buck showed up, guess I'd 'a' give him as good as you did."
+
+"Listen, would you, fellers!" exclaimed Steve, and then he laughed. "Say,
+wouldn't it have been a circus if that deer got to chasing Bandy-legs
+around a tree! Run? Well, he'd have to stir those stumps of his faster
+than he ever did before in all his life, or he'd be hangin' on the ends
+of them horns. I guess you're lucky not to have been there, my boy!"
+
+"We're getting near the place where we set that trap, I reckon," remarked
+Bandy-legs, partly to change the course of the conversation, for it
+sometimes made him feel uncomfortable when Steve got to joking upon the
+subject of his short lower limbs.
+
+"Correct, son," replied the trapper. "I'm glad to see you noticed the lay
+of things when we was here yesterday."
+
+"It's right over yonder," continued Bandy-legs, anxious now to let Steve
+see that he was not as stupid as the other made out.
+
+"What makes you so sure of that, Bandy-legs?" asked Max.
+
+"Why, you see, I remember that tree with the big bunch of scarlet leaves.
+I was lookin' at that while Uncle Jim set the trap. Ain't another clump
+like that anywhere around, I reckon," was the smart reply Bandy-legs
+made.
+
+The old trapper nodded his head.
+
+"He's right," he said. "I took them same five leaves for my mark, too.
+The trap was set just beyond. But, of course, that ain't sayin' we'll
+find it there now."
+
+"Not find the trap, do you say, Uncle Jim?" exclaimed Bandy-legs; "why,
+whatever could happen to it?"
+
+"If so be the bear came along and put his foot in, so them powerful jaws
+they closed like a vise, I reckon he'd walk off with it," the trapper
+replied.
+
+"That's so, you didn't fasten the chain to a stake or a tree," said Owen.
+
+"But I remember that you had a big clump of wood fixed to the end of the
+chain; what was that for?" Bandy-legs asked.
+
+"I k-k-know; that's the c-c-clog," Toby interrupted them to remark.
+
+"Just what it was," Trapper Jim admitted.
+
+"A clog, was it?" Bandy-legs continued; "but what's the use of it?"
+
+"I'll explain," the other remarked; "when we set a bear trap we generally
+fasten the chain to a heavy piece of wood. When Bruin shuffles off he
+drags this after him. And in the course of time it weakens the old chap,
+for he's losing blood all the time."
+
+"That's kind of cruel; but go on, Uncle Jim," Owen remarked.
+
+"I guess you're about right, son," said the other, "and there's lots
+that's cruel about this trappin' business. But the women must have their
+furs, and ever since Adam's time I reckon the animals has had to supply
+covering for human beings. Eve thought it all over many a time, and I try
+to be as humane in my work as anybody could."
+
+"But there's another use for the clog, isn't there?" asked Max.
+
+"To be sure there is," Trapper Jim replied. "You see, it drags on the
+ground and leaves such a plain trail that any tenderfoot could foller
+it."
+
+"Then you really have no use for the dogs," spoke up Owen. "I supposed
+they were going to lead us along the trail."
+
+"Oh, they'll do that, all right," laughed the trapper; "but to tell the
+truth I fetched 'em along for exercise and to keep them from getting
+uneasy more'n anything else."
+
+He stopped and appeared to be listening.
+
+"Can you tell if he's there?" asked the wondering Bandy-legs.
+
+"I can tell that he ain't there," replied the trapper. "It's all as still
+as anything. That means either our bear didn't come along his trail after
+we set the trap, or else he's come and carried it away with him."
+
+"She's gone!" ejaculated Bandy-legs, as he craned his neck the better to
+see the spot where, as he remembered, the big trap had been set, artfully
+concealed, squarely in the track Bruin used in going to and fro from the
+marsh to his chosen den, where he expected to hibernate during the coming
+winter.
+
+"You're correct, son," Trapper Jim declared. "The bear has been here and
+walked off with my prize trap. Here's where the clog tore up the ground,
+you see. I reckon now any one of you boys could follow them marks."
+
+"With my lamps blindfolded," Steve ventured.
+
+"Then come on with me. We ought to have bear steak for supper to-night,"
+and holding on to the eager and straining Ajax, while Owen looked after
+Don, the trapper led the pursuit.
+
+Everywhere could be seen the plain marks where the weighty clog had
+plowed into the ground when the trapped bear pulled it along after him.
+
+As the trapper had said, the merest tyro could easily have followed such
+a broad, blood-marked trail.
+
+Sooner or later they must expect to come upon the bear unless he had been
+able, through good luck, to reach his den ere now.
+
+The excitement on the part of the two dogs grew more intense.
+
+"We must be crawling upon him, I should think," Max remarked.
+
+"Just what we're doing," the trapper replied, "and, unless I miss my
+guess, we'll find him caught fast in this thicket just ahead. Slow up,
+boys. There's no need of hurrying any more, for I think he's waiting up
+for us right here."
+
+With their hearts beating like trip hammers the boys now approached the
+thicket into which the plain trail of the heavy clog seemed to plunge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+"STEADY, STEVE, STEADY!"
+
+
+"Listen!" said Trapper Jim.
+
+All of them became silent. Even the dogs, as if recognizing some vein of
+authority in that one word spoken by their master, ceased barking, though
+still straining hard in the leash, as though fairly wild to break away.
+
+There was a crackling of the bushes, and this grew louder.
+
+"Oh, I see him!" cried Bandy-legs.
+
+"Get ready to shoot, everybody, if I give this word; but don't pull
+trigger unless you hear me yell you to," called out the trapper.
+
+Then there was a savage roar that seemed to make the very air quiver. Out
+of the thicket scrambled a big black bear, looking furious indeed.
+
+Thinking they were about to be attacked, and in a panic at the very idea,
+some of the boys leveled their guns. They might have pulled trigger, too,
+in their excitement, only for the quick warning the old wood's ranger
+gave.
+
+"Hold your fire, everybody. It's all off. No danger as long as that clog
+remains fast!" was what he shouted.
+
+Max could readily grasp the situation. He saw that the angry beast could
+only come just so far, because something was holding one of his hind
+legs.
+
+"The clog's got fast among the rocks in there, and he's held as tight as
+can be; that's what's the matter," Steve sang out.
+
+Of course the only thing left to do now was for some one to put a bullet
+where it would be apt to do the most good.
+
+Who would be appointed to carry out this part of the programme?
+
+Steve hoped Trapper Jim would look favorably upon him when seeking a
+candidate. He had never shot a bear in all his life, and while there
+would be little glory attached to the passing of one that was held fast
+in a trap, still it would be something to think of later on.
+
+But Trapper Jim was a wise man. He supposed that every one of the boys
+was fairly quivering with eagerness to be the one selected.
+
+As he looked around at the five anxious faces the trapper scratched his
+head, as though unable to decide.
+
+"It can't be did that way," he muttered. "They must draw lots for it, and
+the shortest straw wins out. Hear that, boys?"
+
+"Yes, and it's all to the mustard," said Steve, keeping on the alert, and
+ready to pour in the contents of both barrels should the trapped bear
+give any evidence of freeing the clog.
+
+"Then here goes."
+
+With that the trapper fastened Ajax to a tree, and then, bending down,
+picked up a number of twigs. These he seemed to pinch off so that they
+were all of a size but one, which was shorter.
+
+"Remember, boys," he said, as he mixed these in his hand, so that one
+could not be told from the others, "it ain't the longest pole that knocks
+the persimmons this time. The feller who gets the short straw has the
+chance. Take a pick, Steve."
+
+Steve, of course, could not hold back. And while the dogs were jumping to
+the length of their leashes and barking madly, with the bear roaring an
+accompaniment as he tugged desperately at his chain, he drew a splinter
+of wood.
+
+"Missed! Gee, what tough luck!" Steve exclaimed, in a chagrined voice, as
+he stared at his prize.
+
+"Try your luck, next!" said Trapper Jim.
+
+Max made a choice. He met with the same result that had given Steve such
+an overwhelming sense of disappointment.
+
+Then Owen stepped up eagerly.
+
+"I've got it picked out," he remarked, "and it's all over but the
+shouting." Then he chose, and was jeered by Steve.
+
+"That leaves it a toss-up between Toby Jucklin and Bandy-legs!" he
+exclaimed, envy plainly marked in his voice.
+
+The two who had yet to draw looked a little frightened. Truth to tell,
+neither of them experienced anything in the shape of an overwhelming
+desire to "slay the jabberwock," as Owen put it.
+
+"Draw, Toby, and be quick about it," Steve flung out; "don't you see the
+old chap's getting all out of patience. Pull out a straw, now, and be
+done with it. Whatever you draw settles it."
+
+So Toby, with trembling fingers, did as he was told. And immediately he
+glanced down at the one he had taken, he grinned.
+
+For it was one of the longer straws, similar to those taken by the
+others. Bandy-legs grew pale.
+
+"Do I have to draw?" he asked, almost piteously.
+
+"Sure you do!" cried Steve. "There's only one left, and you draw that.
+It's the fatal short one, too. You ring up the prize, Bandy-legs!"
+
+"But--I didn't have any choice!" remonstrated the one selected by fate to
+be the executioner of the trapped bear.
+
+"Huh, I like that!" laughed Steve. "Why, you had a chance every time one
+of us stepped up and made a pick. Go on, now, and get ready to do for
+him, unless you've got cold feet and want to hand it over to somebody
+else."
+
+But somehow Steve's jeering remarks had stirred Bandy-legs' pride. He
+looked hard at the other. Then he shut his jaws tight together.
+
+"Thanks! I guess I'll do the job myself!" he remarked.
+
+"With that pop gun of yours?" asked the incredulous Steve.
+
+"No, I'm going to ask Max to lend me his rifle," replied Bandy-legs.
+
+"Much you know about a repeating rifle!" continued his tormentor.
+
+"Well, I did fire it a few times at a target, didn't I, Max?" protested
+the chosen one.
+
+"You sure did, and really hit the target once," Max hastened to answer,
+as he exchanged guns with Bandy-legs.
+
+"Huh, that ain't sayin' much, when like as not the target was a _barn_!"
+
+Ignoring this last thrust from Steve as something beneath his notice,
+Bandy-legs saw to it that the hammer of the repeating rifle was drawn
+back.
+
+"Where'll I stand, Uncle Jim?" he demanded, trying to appear quite cool;
+but the experienced old trapper knew very well how he was secretly
+quivering all over.
+
+"Here, drop down behind this rock and rest your rifle on it," he said.
+"Now, wait till I say the word, and then press the trigger. Aim just back
+of the foreleg, because you're more apt to reach his heart there."
+
+"What if I don't kill him?" asked Bandy-legs, with a big sigh.
+
+"Clap another shell in and give it to him. Reckon you know how to work
+the trombone action, don't you?" the trapper went on to say.
+
+"Sure I do," answered the Nimrod, lowering his cheek to the stock of the
+gun.
+
+"Remember, now, and don't shut your eyes, Bandy-legs!" advised Steve.
+
+"Let up on that, Steve," remarked Max, who was greatly interested in
+seeing the novice get a square deal.
+
+Half a minute of waiting followed. The dogs continued to jump and bark,
+and the bear, made savage by his pain, tugged at his chain and growled.
+
+"Shoot!" said Trapper Jim, suddenly.
+
+Almost with the word came the clear report of the rifle, showing that at
+least Steve's jibes had had the effect of putting Bandy-legs on his
+mettle.
+
+With a fearful roar the bear fell over and began struggling. The dogs
+seemed almost frantic now in their desire to break loose.
+
+"Quick, work the pump action and get ready!" called out Trapper Jim.
+
+Bandy-legs managed to do as he was told, though he was shaking so by this
+time that he almost let the gun drop.
+
+"Hold on, no use wasting another shot. I reckon he's done for," was what
+he heard Trapper Jim say.
+
+"And you've been and gone and killed a real live bear, Bandy-legs!" said
+Max.
+
+The boy heaved a sigh as he gave back the rifle.
+
+"But he was held fast in a trap, Max," he said, moodily; "guess that
+ain't so much to crow over."
+
+"But ain't he a whopper!" exclaimed Steve, who was at the bear's side
+almost as soon as the animal had ceased to struggle.
+
+"If we only had a c-c-camera here now we'd take him with his f-f-foot
+planted on the old b-b-bear and holdin' his g-g-gun!" exclaimed Toby.
+
+Here was plenty of work for all hands.
+
+The bear must first of all be skinned, because Jim said he had a splendid
+hide that would be worth a good deal to him when properly dried.
+
+Then they wanted some of the meat, in fact all that was worth while, for
+Jim would dry that which they did not consume.
+
+"Plenty of fat, too," he observed, as he worked. "I like that, because
+I'm short just now on bear's grease, and a supply would come in handy."
+
+"What do you use it for, Uncle Jim?" asked Owen.
+
+"Dozens of things. I rub it on boots, I keep my guns and ax from rustin'
+by smearin' it on. Why, long ago in the woods I've known where families
+made candles out of bear's fat by using a wick in the middle."
+
+By degrees he managed to cut the bear up. The meat was wrapped in
+packages, so that it might all be transported to the cabin.
+
+"What about the trap; will you set it again?" asked Steve.
+
+"Not here," was the reply. "No other bear is likely to come along the
+trail this fellow made. One of you boys had best tote it back home. I may
+need it again this winter if the season stays open and the bears come out
+to look around, like they do mild winters."
+
+It was well on toward noon when they arrived once more at the cabin, each
+one being pretty well loaded down.
+
+They concluded to have a bite to eat before attempting anything further.
+But the cooking of the bear meat would have to be deferred until later
+in the day, as it would take too much time.
+
+Feeling refreshed after their meal, the boys announced themselves ready
+to undertake any further business.
+
+Max, Steve, and Toby were to take that four-mile tramp after the venison
+that had been left behind on their former trip.
+
+"Seems like we're getting our share of happenings up here," remarked
+Steve, as he and his two chums tramped steadily on.
+
+"Well, yes, it does look that way, Steve."
+
+"Things come along right smart these days and nights," continued the
+other. "And already it's paid us for the long trip, 'cording to my
+calculations."
+
+"It certainly has," admitted Max.
+
+"With more'n a week more to come," added Steve. "And there's only one
+thing I feel bad about, too."
+
+"I think I could give a guess what that is," said Max; "the bobcat."
+
+"Hit it plumb center that time," laughed the other, as he shifted his gun
+to the other shoulder, for on the four-mile tramp it was beginning to
+feel rather heavy.
+
+"Well, I wouldn't bother my head any over that fellow getting away
+scot-free," Max continued. "He didn't do any damage, and, as Uncle Jim
+says, you might have been sorry if you went out in the dark woods looking
+for trouble. When anybody does that he generally finds it, all right."
+
+"But I hope I just happen on the old pirate again while we're up in this
+neck of the woods," observed the persistent Steve. "I'd just like to look
+along the barrels of my gun at the varmint, as Jim calls him."
+
+"Yes, Steve, and he said he had an idea this was the same old cat that
+gave him a peck of trouble last winter, stealing some of the animals that
+were in his traps, but always avoiding getting caught himself."
+
+"Why, Uncle Jim even tried to poison the thief, but nary a bite would the
+cat take of the doctored meat," Steve went on. "I hope this is the same
+tough old customer and that I sight him when I've got my gun along,
+that's all."
+
+"We've got there, Steve. I can see the very tree where we hung up the
+balance of the little buck we knocked over."
+
+Steve could not but note how Max persistently gave him an equal share in
+the credit of killing the deer. It warmed his heart toward such a
+generous chum. But, then, that was always the way with Max Hastings.
+
+"Let's go a little slow, Steve," he continued; "we can't see the deer,
+because of the leaves that still hang on to the oak."
+
+Silently then they advanced.
+
+And just as they arrived at a spot where they could see the hanging
+carcass, again did they hear that ferocious snarl as on the preceding
+night. Steve instantly threw his gun up to his shoulder, and at the same
+instant he heard Max at his elbow saying:
+
+"Steady, Steve, steady! Look out, he's going to jump."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE END OF A THIEF.
+
+
+The wildcat had evidently found the hanging carcass not a great while
+before. At the time the three boys approached he had been regaling
+himself as he clung to the upper part of the dangling buck.
+
+Being only half satisfied he seemed angry at being disturbed in his meal.
+The boys happened to be "down the wind" from him, and this would explain
+how it was they came upon him apparently unawares. But when a wildcat is
+in a frightfully bad humor he does not run off very easily, and this one,
+according to what Uncle Jim had said, was unusually bold. He had proved
+this by approaching the cabin of the trapper on the preceding night.
+
+Crouching there on the swaying carcass of the deer, and with his chops
+all bloody from his recent meal which they had disturbed, the bobcat
+presented a truly terrifying appearance.
+
+His short ears were laid back close to his head, his yellow eyes glowed
+as though they were balls of phosphorescence, and the hair on his back
+seemed to stand up on end.
+
+Max had his gun in readiness, too.
+
+He was not going to take any more chances than were necessary. Steve
+seemed to be all ready to fire, and he knew the other to be a pretty good
+shot. But, then, who could wholly depend upon such an excitable fellow?
+
+Then the cat sprang!
+
+Max heard Toby utter a shout of warning that was swallowed up in a
+tremendous roar close to his ears. Max sprang aside, and he thought he
+saw Steve doing the same sort of stunt. Toby was already safe behind the
+friendly trunk of a tree.
+
+To the relief of Max the leaping cat seemed to crumple up in the air. It
+turned completely over, as though by the impact of something that had
+struck it. And when it reached the ground it lay even beyond the hanging
+venison.
+
+"Wow!" came from Steve.
+
+He was scrambling to his feet, having dropped his gun. There was a look
+of mingled satisfaction, surprise, and pain upon his face.
+
+"What's the matter?" asked Max, noticing how the other was rubbing his
+right shoulder where the butt of his shotgun had rested.
+
+"Hurts like fun!" replied Steve, making a wry face.
+
+"You mean it kicked, don't you, Steve?"
+
+"Kick? Well, I'll be sore for a month of Sundays," replied the other,
+grunting as he touched a tender part. "Did you see me go over?"
+
+"Sure I did, but I thought you were dodging the leap of the cat, the same
+as I did myself," returned Max.
+
+"Dodging nothing!" said Steve. "I tell you that pesky gun clean kicked me
+off my pins. Never had it play me such a trick before."
+
+Max stooped and picked up the shotgun. Then he laughed.
+
+"It's all as simple as pie," he said.
+
+"Do you mean I was that excited I pulled both triggers at once?" cried
+Steve.
+
+"Well, both hammers are down, and," breaking the gun as he spoke, "you
+can see for yourself the shells are empty."
+
+"Glory! No wonder I blew that old cat away, then!" cried Steve. "With
+all those two dozen buckshot chasing through him the poor critter must
+have been nearly torn to pieces. And there my fine door mat goes
+a-glimmering!"
+
+Investigation proved that Steve's fears were realized. The terrific
+discharge at such close quarters had so riddled the skin of the wildcat
+that it was not worth attempting to save.
+
+"What a shame!" said Steve, as he got up again after examining the dead
+beast. "He was a jim-dandy, too. If I'd only had a crack at him thirty
+yards away instead of ten feet, I'd have saved that lovely pelt."
+
+"But it was a corking good shot, I tell you, Steve," declared Max,
+warmly.
+
+"That's j-j-just what it was," added Toby, who had parted company with
+the friendly tree, now that the danger seemed a thing of the past.
+
+"To hit a tiger cat sitting on a limb is considered a good enough
+showing," continued Max; "but to knock holes through him while he is in
+the air jumping deserves high credit. Think of that every time your
+shoulder hurts."
+
+"Anyhow," remarked Steve, cheerfully, "I can bat right or left handed,
+and I can shoot a gun the same old way; so this little accident won't
+knock me out of the running. But I'd be happier if I hadn't just ruined
+that skin."
+
+"Well, better lug him home, anyway, if you feel able to," advised Max.
+"Uncle Jim will be glad if he recognizes the crafty old thief of last
+winter in this cat you knocked down."
+
+"Guess I will," Steve remarked, "though he'll be a load to tote. We'll
+wait and see how you come on with the venison."
+
+"Oh, don't bother about that," said Max. "Toby and myself will look out
+for all we want to take with us."
+
+"But those antlers--I promised to decorate my room with those, Max!"
+
+"That's all right," declared Max. "Come for them before we leave here.
+You know the place, and by that time the foxes will have cleaned them
+nicely for you."
+
+And so things were arranged.
+
+An hour later and the three lads headed for camp again. Each one toted
+his share of the burden. But long before the cabin was reached Steve
+began to feel sorry that he had determined to display the wildcat to the
+others in order to prove his story, and also let Trapper Jim see whether
+the victim of his double shot was the same despised and hated bobcat that
+had given him so very much trouble in the preceding year.
+
+Nevertheless Steve was a most determined boy. And having started in to
+accomplish anything he could hardly be influenced to give it up just
+because his back ached and his lame shoulder protested.
+
+Max insisted on changing loads with him when they were halfway home.
+
+"I can carry it better than you with your sore shoulder, Steve," he said,
+when the other started to protest; "besides, I've made this bundle of
+venison so it can be tied on your back. You'll find it a relief. Don't
+say another word, for you've just _got_ to do it. All very good to show
+how plucky and game you are, old fellow, but if you should get knocked
+out by too much exertion, why, don't you see, it'll break up the whole
+shooting match for the rest of us?"
+
+Max put it that way for a purpose. He knew Steve's generous nature, and
+that the other could be prevailed upon to do a thing for the sake of his
+chums, when he would not budge so far as any personal benefit was
+concerned.
+
+"Oh, well, if that's so, perhaps I'd better throw the old thing away,"
+Steve declared.
+
+"No," said Max, "that would be foolish, after you've carried it two miles
+now. Besides, I feel sure Uncle Jim'd like to see the cat. If he knows
+his old tricky enemy has really and truly kicked the bucket, he'll rest
+easier this year. One thief like this can give a trapper heaps of
+trouble. He learns to look for his dinners in the traps."
+
+"All right, then, Max; but it's awful good of you to change over,"
+declared Steve. "Why, this load ain't a circumstance beside mine. I'm
+sorry for you, though, and if--"
+
+"Let up on that sort of talk, please, Steve. If I find it too much I'll
+own up. Then Toby here can take his turn."
+
+"S-s-sure thing," assented the party mentioned, smiling good-naturedly.
+
+But, after all, Max carried the trophy of Steve's shots close to the
+camp. Then, thinking the other might like to be seen coming in with his
+own game, he made him change again, though Steve winced as he worked his
+lame shoulder.
+
+The others had returned, and were all busily engaged with the trophies of
+the traps.
+
+Trapper Jim, upon finding that Owen and Bandy-legs manifested a certain
+amount of interest in all he did, took great pleasure in showing them
+just how the skins must be removed from the animals and fastened securely
+to the stretching boards, so they would not shrivel up when drying.
+
+He managed to impart considerable interesting information while working,
+and Owen, determined not to get all these facts twisted, was seen to be
+scribbling something down every little while.
+
+When they saw what constituted Steve's load, and heard from Max and Toby
+the true story of how the savage animal was shot while making a
+leap toward the young Nimrod, admiring looks were cast on Steve.
+
+"Gewhittaker, but ain't he a savage-looking old monster, though!"
+declared Bandy-legs, examining the dead cat; "a whole lot bigger'n that
+one we got in the Great Dismal Swamp, fellows, let me tell you right now.
+Look at the teeth and the needle-pointed claws, would you! I'm glad I
+didn't have to face this critter."
+
+"And Bandy-legs," Steve could not help saying, "this sweet little cat
+didn't have its hind leg caught in a trap, either. It was free as air,
+and if my lucky shot hadn't gone just where it did, I guess I'd be in
+rags right now."
+
+"Well," said the other, in no wise hurt by what Steve said, I never
+claimed to be a hunter like you, Steve and you know it. I guess shooting
+a trapped bear is about my limit. But I know _you_ wouldn't run away from
+the biggest old pig-stealer that ever came down the pike."
+
+"Thank you, Bandy-legs," said Steve, "and really and truly I don't
+believe I would, not if I had my trusty gun along."
+
+The afternoon was wearing away, and all of them believed that they had
+been through quite enough excitement for one day. Besides, they had
+covered a good many miles since morning and felt rather like resting.
+
+Trapper Jim was getting some of the bear meat in readiness for cooking.
+He knew it would be anything but tender, but long experience had taught
+him how to pound it with a little contrivance he had, thus opening the
+tissues and allowing the juices to escape. In this way a tough beefsteak
+can be made more palatable if one cares to go to the trouble. Sometimes
+he parboiled meat and then fried it.
+
+As the sun went down Max stood outside the cabin, looking around at the
+picture. The air was fresh and invigorating and he drew in a big breath,
+as, turning to Owen who had just come out to join him, he remarked:
+
+"Talk to me about the good times we've had before; I tell you nothing
+ever happened to this lucky bunch that was halfway equal to this!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A GLIMPSE OF THE SILVER FOX.
+
+
+There was no audacious bobcat around to worry them that night. Steve had
+indeed, as Owen said, "laid the jabberwock low," when he discharged both
+barrels of his shotgun at once.
+
+They were all under obligations to Steve. Every time that lame shoulder
+of his gave him a more severe twinge than usual he could, figuratively
+speaking, of course, shake hands with himself.
+
+It is a great thing to be a public benefactor. There was Bandy-legs, for
+instance, who, much to his own inconvenience, had shown Trapper Jim and
+the rest just how easy it would be for some animal to drop down the
+wide-throated chimney during the absence of the cabin's owner and play
+havoc within.
+
+The panic excited by the squatter skunk had been another lesson. And in
+consequence Trapper Jim, aided and abetted by Bandy-legs, who was a
+pretty clever hand at making things, had arranged a contrivance that
+worked much after the manner of a grating over the top of the chimney.
+
+This, while allowing the smoke to escape freely, put up the bars against
+the admission of any would-be intruder, even a squirrel.
+
+It would do temporarily. Trapper Jim said that later on when he borrowed
+that big buckboard again and transported his lively guests to the town
+and the distant railroad, he had it in his mind to secure a sheet of that
+heavy close-woven wire netting, such as was used in stable windows and
+for many other purposes. It allowed a free circulation of air, and yet
+prevented the entrance of sneak thieves.
+
+So on this night Bandy-legs could go to sleep in peace on the floor, he
+having given up the bunk to the next one on the list.
+
+If he woke up in the night and raised his head to find the fire burning
+low, he need not imagine every grotesque shadow in the dimly lighted
+cabin to be a fierce animal that had crept in while they slept.
+
+When day came again they laid out their programme as usual. Of course,
+Uncle Jim, having started his season's work, could not neglect his
+traps. Every day when the weather allowed he must trudge the rounds and
+see what Fortune had sent him.
+
+Besides, a humane trapper wishes to end as quickly as possible the
+torture of any creature that has been caught by the leg in one of his
+steel contraptions.
+
+"It's a cruel enough business at the best," Jim Ruggles told the boys as
+he sat and spoke of his past experiences, "and often I've been sorry I
+ever took it up. But there must be trappers as long as women will demand
+rich furs in the winter season. My only satisfaction is that I've been
+kinder toward the little animals of the woods than most brutal trappers
+would be."
+
+"But, however did you come to take up such a queer profession in the
+beginning, Uncle Jim?" asked Owen that morning, as they got to talking
+about the many years the old man had spent in this way.
+
+Owen had discovered, before now that that Jim Ruggles was really a man of
+education, having been a college graduate.
+
+He smiled at the question, did the old trapper.
+
+"Oh, there were a lot of things combined to send me to the woods," he
+said, musingly. "First of all was my intense love for all the Big
+Outdoors. Seemed like I could never get enough of it. The more I saw of
+the forest, the more I felt drawn to it. I guess I had the woods hunger
+from boyhood. Max, here, knows what it is."
+
+"I think I do," remarked the one mentioned. "I feel the craving come over
+me at times and have hard work to resist."
+
+"Well, take my advice, son, and fight it off," remarked Trapper Jim.
+"Anyhow keep it in subjection. The world needs you. There's plenty of
+work for such as you in the busy marts of men. Don't allow yourself to
+ever dream of spending your whole life lost in the wilderness like I've
+done. What can I look back to but a life that's been wasted, so far as
+being useful to my fellowmen is concerned? A little run to the woods now
+and then to renew your vigor and draw in new strength--let that be all."
+
+"But you said there were other reasons why you came here, Uncle Jim,"
+persisted Owen.
+
+At that the old man actually laughed.
+
+"I suppose while I am at it," he said, "I might as well make a clean
+sweep and confess all. Well, I was a foolish young man at the time, you
+see, and took it to heart because a certain young lady I thought heaps of
+wouldn't accept me. But, then, my health was nothing to boast of in those
+days, and doctors had said it would be a good thing if I could spend a
+year up here."
+
+"And you did?" continued Owen.
+
+"Been here ever since," replied the trapper.
+
+"And you don't look weakly now, Uncle Jim."
+
+"I should say not," laughed the other, as he stretched his muscular arms
+above his head. "The open air, free from all disease germs, such as
+abound in cities; the long tramps; the freedom from worries; and, above
+all, the plain food and regular hours built me up wonderfully. Perhaps,
+after all, I did the right thing, because I'd have been dead long ago
+if I remained among the city dwellers."
+
+"And, how about the heartless girl--did you ever see her again, Uncle
+Jim?" asked Owen, with a boy's freedom of speech.
+
+Again the trapper laughed and then sighed.
+
+"I never saw her again, son," he replied. "Years later I heard she
+married but I couldn't tell you whether his name was Smith or Brown. Then
+came the news that Susie had died, leaving one child. Sometimes I'm
+seized with a sort of yearning to look that boy up, and perhaps do
+something for him, just because I cared for his mother. But I never
+have, because before I get started it begins to look foolish to me."
+
+The old man had a tear in his eye. And both Owen and Max felt drawn to
+him more than ever.
+
+"Thank you ever so much, Uncle Jim, for telling us all this," Owen said,
+in a soft tone that caused the trapper to look fondly at him as he went
+on:
+
+"Well, I've spoken to you boys about things that Have been lying deep
+down in my old heart buried for many a year. But just forget it. And
+let's see what Luck has got in store for us to-day. I'm going to get out
+a couple of my special fox traps."
+
+Something about the way he said this as well as the eager flash that shot
+athwart his rugged face caused Max to cry out:
+
+"Fox traps! You've got some reason for saying that, Uncle Jim."
+
+"Maybe I have, son," remarked the trapper, smiling more broadly at this
+evidence of astuteness on the part of the boy.
+
+"Is it the silver fox?" demanded Max.
+
+"Well, I thought I had just a glimpse of the little darling yesterday
+when out with the boys," observed Trapper Jim.
+
+"But you didn't mention it before now--I didn't hear any of them say a
+word about it," Max went on.
+
+"That's right. I thought I'd keep it quiet. But what's the use when such
+sharp eyes keep tabs on every move I make. Besides, you two might like to
+watch how I set a trap to catch a fox. Because they're about as smart as
+any animal that walks on four legs."
+
+Soon afterward the boys started out with the trapper. Steve, feeling his
+lame shoulder, concluded to rest up for a day, while Bandy-legs confessed
+that he much preferred doing a number of things about the cabin, perhaps
+catching a few pickerel in the little pond not far away, as Trapper Jim
+kept a supply of live minnows on hand to be used as bait when fishing
+with "tip-ups" through the ice later on.
+
+So Max, Owen, and Toby saw how the two traps were set for the black fox,
+whose pelt is the one known as silver fox, and by long odds the most
+prized of all furs, sometimes one fine skin fetching thousands of
+dollars.
+
+They found another mink caught, besides a number of muskrats. And in the
+last trap was a beautiful silky otter. Trapper Jim seemed highly pleased
+when he looked at his various prizes for the day.
+
+"Seems like you boys must have brought me good luck," he declared.
+
+"I hope we have," laughed Owen.
+
+"I never hit such a nice mess before so early in the season," continued
+the trapper, "and it wouldn't surprise me a great deal now if I caught
+that splendid silver first shot out of the box."
+
+"S-s-say, wouldn't that j-j-just be g-g-great," said Toby.
+
+"Well, the traps are set and it's been pretty nigh a morning's work,
+because there's so much to do about trapping a smart fox. But, boys,
+let's hope that to-morrow or some other day it'll all be paid back, and
+I'll be able to show you what a beautiful skin the black fox sports."
+
+"But you've taken them before, you said, Uncle Jim," Owen observed.
+
+"Sure, two or three times, and pretty good ones at that," replied the
+trapper, with a chuckle. "But you know, it's always the same old story in
+this business."
+
+"What's that?" asked Max.
+
+"The skins you've captured in the past never compare with those you see
+on the backs of live animals. The best is always to come, eh, Max?"
+
+"J-j-just like it is in f-f-fishing," declared Toby. "The big one in
+the w-w-water b-b-beats the one you've l-l-landed. I used to think the
+w-w-water just m-m-magnified 'em."
+
+"No, it's the hope we have. Possession dulls the interest. You boys know
+that the apples next door always taste better than those you have in your
+own orchard."
+
+The three whom Trapper Jim addressed just looked at each other and
+laughed. Nobody answered him. There was really no need of words. Jim knew
+boys from the ground up, and loved them, too. He had once been a boy
+himself.
+
+On the way back home he told them many interesting things connected with
+the shrewdness of mink and otter, and how smart the trapper had to be to
+outwit them.
+
+"That's one of the pleasures of the business," he went on to say; "this
+continual matching of a man's wits against the instinct and cunning of
+these same clever little varmints. Why, a single old mink has kept me
+guessing pretty much all winter and changing my methods a dozen times."
+
+"But I reckon you got him in the end, Uncle Jim," said Max.
+
+"What makes you believe that, son?"
+
+"Oh, because you never give up once you've set your mind on a thing,"
+replied the boy, admiringly.
+
+"Well, I don't knuckle down _very_ often, that's a fact," chuckled the
+trapper; "though there have been occasions. That girl episode was one,
+you remember, Max."
+
+"But you got the sly old mink, didn't you?" persisted Owen.
+
+"Yes, I got him when I had just about exhausted every scheme I could
+think up," answered the trapper; "and let me tell you, boys, that day
+when I carried him to the cabin I felt as big as the President of the
+United States."
+
+Another night of comfort followed. Trapper Jim said it began to feel real
+lonely, now that the bold bobcat no longer came prowling around trying to
+steal things.
+
+But the boys enjoyed having a good rest undisturbed by any sudden clamor.
+
+This time only Max and Steve accompanied the trapper. Owen found that he
+had wrenched his ankle, and had better take a day off, and Toby had
+arranged to try the pickerel with Bandy-legs, who had caught a few on the
+previous day.
+
+Steve had heard about the traps set for the "silver," and he wanted to be
+along if there was anything doing.
+
+When they arrived near the first trap it was untouched. But the second
+they found sprung and empty.
+
+"Oh, he was caught and broke away. It's too bad!" cried Steve, pointing
+to traces of blood and some shining black hairs on the jaws of the Victor
+trap.
+
+But Trapper Jim was saying angry words to himself.
+
+"Caught the finest silver I ever set eyes on only to have him snatched by
+a sneak of a pelt thief!" and he pointed as he spoke to the imprint of a
+shoe in the soil.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE PURSUIT.
+
+
+"Stolen!" burst out impulsive Steve, his face pale with rage.
+
+Both boys felt keenly for their friend, Trapper Jim. He had looked
+forward so long to capturing his rare prize; he had taken such great
+pains to set his traps with that object in view; and now, after success
+had come, and the black beauty was caught, it must be terribly
+aggravating to discover that some one had happened on the spot, robbed
+the trap, and was far away with the precious pelt.
+
+Trapper Jim did not often give way to his feelings. He quickly got a
+fresh grip on his emotions and could talk calmly again. But there was a
+gleam in those piercing eyes of his, undimmed by age, that made Owen glad
+he did not stand in the shoes of the pelt thief.
+
+"When do you think he was here, Uncle Jim?" Max asked, as he examined the
+plain track of the thief's shoe.
+
+"This morning, and not more than an hour ago," came the answer. "He was
+heading as straight as could be for our cabin, like he meant to drop in
+on me; but after this he turned back. The temptation was too much. Few
+men could let a chance pass by to pick up a silver fox when a common red
+wouldn't bother 'em the least bit."
+
+"But, say, I hope you don't mean to let him get away with the skin
+altogether, Uncle Jim," flashed Steve, with an angry look still on his
+face.
+
+"Well, that wouldn't be like me," returned the trapper, quietly; and Max
+realized that his was the determined, bulldog nature that never lets go,
+while with Steve it was a flash-in-the-pan, hasty action, without a
+careful laying out of plans.
+
+"Then we'll pick up the trail and follow it?" asked the eager boy.
+
+"As soon as we can have Ajax here, son."
+
+"But why wait for the dog?" complained Steve. "It'll take all of an hour
+to get back here again."
+
+"That and more," replied Trapper Jim.
+
+"And that time will be wasted," Steve went on.
+
+"Listen," remarked the trapper. "Long ago I learned that things like this
+are done best when you go about them soberly. Once I start on this trail
+of the pelt thief, and I mean to keep on it if it takes me a hundred
+miles! What does an hour count for in that case, Steve?"
+
+"Mighty little, I guess," admitted the boy.
+
+"There are other reasons for getting the dog," continued the trapper.
+"This rascal will expect pursuit. And so every little while he'll do
+things to cover up his trail. P'r'aps he'll wade along a stream, and come
+out by way of rocks that would leave no mark. Then, again, he'd run along
+a log and jump from stone to stone. All these things would delay me. What
+took ten minutes of _his_ time would consume an hour of mine. It's much
+easier to set a problem than to solve one."
+
+"Sure thing. I understand now why you want the dog," Steve confessed.
+
+"Ajax has a good scent. His nose is very keen. Here's a rag the thief
+must have dropped. Once I let the dog smell of this, and he'll follow
+that trail hour after hour, so long as it don't get too cold."
+
+"Shall I go and get Ajax! I would run all the way," Steve suggested.
+
+"Well, with that lame shoulder of yours, son, you'd have a hard time of
+it holding a running dog in leash. So we'll have to get Max here to
+attend to that part of the business. Think you could return without any
+trouble, my boy?"
+
+"Well," replied the other, with a laugh, "all I'll have to do will be to
+let Ajax have his head. He'll keep to our trail, all right."
+
+"Just what I expected you to say," remarked the trapper. "And now be off
+with you. We'll be nosing around here. Leave your gun with me, as you'll
+need both hands to manage the dog."
+
+"And what message will I carry to the other boys?" asked Max.
+
+"Explain things in a few words, and tell Owen to take charge until we
+show up again. It may be to-night, and again it might not come about
+until to-morrow. But they've got a-plenty to eat, and that satisfies
+boys."
+
+And so Max hastened off. Although not as impetuous by nature as Steve, he
+knew that every minute gained now would shorten the lead which
+the audacious pelt thief had upon them. And so Max sprinted more or less
+whenever he had the chance.
+
+It was not over an hour when he once more made his appearance, with the
+excited Ajax towing him. And evidently Max had had no easy job of it,
+trying to hold the eager hound in, for he looked relieved and rubbed his
+muscles after Trapper Jim took the leash.
+
+The boys were deeply interested in all that followed. They saw the
+trapper hold the soiled rag upon which the thief had perhaps wiped his
+hands for the hound to sniff at for a minute or two.
+
+Then Trapper Jim led Ajax to the footprints and made him catch the same
+particular odor,
+
+When the intelligent hound gave a bay and led the way along the trail of
+the thief, his nose close to the ground and his tail in perpetual motion,
+Trapper Jim looked pleased.
+
+"He's got the scent, all right, lads," he observed, "and after this he'll
+never forget it. There are few hunting dogs that can be taught to follow
+a human being as well as they do animals; but Ajax is an exception."
+
+"Now we're off!" exclaimed the restless Steve, exultantly.
+
+"Yes, and the rascal will have to hump himself if he hopes to escape us.
+I haven't given up all hopes of reclaiming that silver fox pelt yet," and
+the trapper really seemed in a better humor than he had enjoyed since the
+first discovery of his great loss.
+
+For quite some time they hurried on. Ajax was straining at his leash most
+of the while, and seemed capable of picking up the scent even when there
+was not the faintest trace of marks that Max could discover.
+
+"It was a mighty good thing we thought of the dog," Steve admitted, and
+then, seeing the trapper looking humorously at him, he gave a short
+laugh, as lie hastily added: "I mean it was a wise head that concluded to
+send for Ajax, and not start off half-shot, like some foolish fellows
+would have done."
+
+"Yes," added Max, "in several places I've lost the trail. And three times
+now the fellow's run along a fallen tree, jumping off where he saw hard
+ground or stones. That would have given us trouble and delayed us, but
+Ajax followed the scent without looking for a trail.
+
+"Here's a creek," interrupted the trapper, "and chances are the thief
+will use it to try and hoodwink us."
+
+They waded through, regardless of the icy cold, for the water was not up
+to their knees.
+
+"Don't see any tracks on this side, Uncle Jim," sang out Steve.
+
+"No, and I guessed we wouldn't," replied the other.
+
+"But he crossed over, didn't he!" demanded the boy.
+
+"Chances are he did," answered Trapper Jim, "but before stepping out he
+went either up or down the creek a ways. First of all we'll try up. If
+that fails us after we've gone some distance, we'll come back here and
+try the other way."
+
+But it chanced that his first guess was the right one. They had gone
+along the bank of the creek less than eighty feet when Ajax uttered a
+sound and gave evidence of renewed excitement.
+
+"The rascal found the water too cold and came out at the first chance,"
+remarked Trapper Jim. "You see, there's a shelf of rock here. No sign
+left for our eyes, because the warm sun has dried up any wet marks he
+made. But Ajax has caught the same scent as there was on that rag."
+
+"And we're off again. Hurrah!" cried Steve, delighted to know that the
+clever tactics of the pelt thief could not prevail against that keen
+sense of smell possessed by the hound.
+
+After that the fugitive did not seem to think it worth while to make any
+more efforts to conceal his trail.
+
+"That cold water was too much for him," suggested Steve.
+
+"Or else he expects he's done enough, and that no one, not even Trapper
+Jim, could follow him," Max had said; "but I rather think he knew a dog
+would be put on his track. That water business is always the trick used
+to throw a hound off the scent."
+
+"Quite right, son," remarked the trapper; "but I allow this fellow has
+got me guessing good and hard, and that's a fact."
+
+"You mean because he's quit trying to hide his trail?" asked Steve.
+
+"Well, partly that, but there's another thing," Trapper Jim went on to
+say.
+
+"I think I'm on to it," observed Max.
+
+"Well, I saw you look some surprised at the time, son," declared the
+trapper. "But Steve, here, saw nothing. Did you notice, Steve, which way
+we headed at the time we first picked up the trail at the sprung trap?"
+
+"Why, yes, it was almost due south, wasn't it?" asked Steve.
+
+"Right, son, and look at the sun now," the trapper remarked.
+
+"Gee, that's queer!" muttered the surprised Steve.
+
+"What is?" asked Max, smiling.
+
+"The sun--why, it's swung around on the right. Say, don't tell me time's
+passed like that, and it's afternoon now. Why, we haven't felt hungry
+enough to tackle that bully lunch Max fetched along when he came back
+with the dog."
+
+Both of the others laughed at this.
+
+"That's one on you, Steve," said Max. "See, my watch says just
+ten-thirty. The sun didn't swing around at all, but the trail did."
+
+"It's heading north now, is it?" demanded Steve.
+
+"Straight as can be," replied Trapper Jim.
+
+"But the cabin lies that way!" objected the puzzled boy.
+
+"Just what it does," admitted Jim. "When the thief sat down to rest back
+there he must have been thinking it over. And he made up his mind to do
+something on the spot, for when he started again he cut out a new course
+direct."
+
+"Whew, the nerve of him!" exclaimed Steve.
+
+"What makes you say that, Steve?"
+
+"Why, don't you see, he's got the fever bad. Thinks p'r'aps Uncle Jim
+here might have another silver fox pelt laid away, and while he's about
+it he reckons he'd better double up."
+
+But Trapper Jim shook his head. He knew no pelt thief would ever display
+such boldness as Steve suggested. There must be another reason for the
+sudden change of plans on the part of the fugitive.
+
+"Have we gained on him?" asked Max, presently.
+
+"Considerable," replied the trapper.
+
+"How d'ye know that?" demanded Steve,
+
+"There are plenty of signs to tell me," came the answer. "Anyone used to
+following a trail would have seen them. And I reckon, now, Max hasn't
+been blind all this while."
+
+"No," replied the one spoken of. "I saw water still oozing into a deep
+track when we passed that boggy ground, and right then and there I
+concluded we must be less than half an hour behind the thief."
+
+"Good!" ejaculated the trapper; "anything else. Max?"
+
+"Why, yes," returned the boy, calmly. "There was a little twig that
+righted itself even as I looked at it. His foot had bent it down. Now, I
+shouldn't think it could have stayed that way more'n half an hour at
+best."
+
+"I saw it, too," added the trapper; "and it pleases me more than I can
+say to find that you keep your eyes about you, son. It ought to be a
+lesson to Steve here. Queer, how one person can see so much and another
+nothing."
+
+"Well," ventured Steve, "I have noticed one thing, anyhow."
+
+"Glad to hear it, son. Tell us what it is, now."
+
+"The dog," remarked Steve.
+
+"Yes, what of Ajax?" questioned Jim.
+
+"He acts different now."
+
+"And from that you conclude what?" queried the trapper.
+
+"Why, we're closing in on our game," Steve went on. "I've hunted enough
+to know how dogs show that."
+
+"Fine! We'll give you credit for that point, Steve, because it's a fact,"
+laughed the trapper, in a half-hushed way.
+
+"Aw! I ain't quite such a silly as I look," remarked Steve.
+
+"I should think not," said Max, and Steve hardly knew whether to take the
+observation as a compliment or the reverse.
+
+"And, now, lads, we'd better stop talking," said Trapper Jim. "I reckon
+we're close enough on our man for him to hear us if we're noisy. And,
+perhaps, if he learned we'd nigh overtaken him, he might start off on the
+run."
+
+So for some time they kept on in abject silence. Not a word was spoken,
+and save for the panting of the eager hound and the labored breathing of
+the trackers, all was still.
+
+The country had become quite rough, and Max knew they must be passing
+over the hills he had seen from the cabin, lying to the south. They had
+had to climb them when on the way from the distant town, and Max even
+hoped some day to circulate among them with his rifle. But he had hardly
+expected that when he did, it would be while on the track of a human
+being.
+
+"He slipped here--you can see the marks his shoes made in the shale,"
+said Trapper Jim, pointing to the ground in front, which sloped downward
+rapidly.
+
+"Oh, my land!" ejaculated Steve, "look where the marks lead, right to the
+brink of that precipice or the bank of a deep ravine. Honest, now, I
+believe the feller must 'a' gone over there."
+
+"Just what he did," added Trapper Jim, solemnly; "and it'd make an ugly
+fall for a body, too."
+
+They crept to the edge and looked down. The bottom of the ravine was many
+yards below, and there were cruel rocks, partly hidden by dense
+vegetation, now brown from the touch of Jack Frost's fingers.
+
+"Listen, that sounded like a groan!" exclaimed the awe-struck Steve.
+
+"I think I can see something among the weeds," remarked Max; and hardly
+had he spoken than a hand was raised to wave toward them and a voice full
+of pain called out:
+
+"Help! Oh, help!"
+
+Led by Trapper Jim the boys made their way down the steep rocky bank of
+the ravine. The first object they saw was the pelt of the silver fox, for
+the thief had removed it during his various stops so as to lighten his
+load. Then they came upon the doubled-up figure of a comparatively young
+man, at sight of whom Trapper Jim frowned and seemed strangely moved.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+GLORIOUS NEWS.
+
+
+"So you're the pelt thief, Ed Whitcomb, are you?" said Trapper Jim,
+gloomily, as he leaned on his rifle and looked down on the young fellow,
+at whom Ajax was sniffing as though he recognized an old friend.
+
+Max caught the name. He recognized it, too. Trapper Jim had told them how
+he had brought a young fellow up from the railroad town two seasons
+before for company. His name had been Ed Whitcomb, too. They had seemed
+to get on for a time splendidly, but finally split on the subject of
+drinking, for Trapper Jim was very set against using liquor in any shape,
+and would not allow a drop of it in his cabin.
+
+"Yes, I'm the thief, Uncle Jim," said the man, trying to suppress a
+groan. "The temptation when I happened on that silver was too much. I
+obeyed a sudden impulse and sole it. Reckon, just as you used to say, too
+much drink had warped my judgment, because there was a time when I'd
+sooner have cut my hand off than steal."
+
+"But you got sorry for it, I reckon," said the trapper, a little more
+softly.
+
+"Yes, something rose up in me and rebelled," replied Ed. "Perhaps it was
+the memory of the mother I had as a boy. Yes, it must have been only
+that. I reckoned she could see what I done and it'd make her feel bad."
+
+"You turned back?" Trapper Jim continued.
+
+"I turned back, sure I did," the wounded man went on, eagerly. "I was
+going to find you and tell you what a fool thing I'd done, tempted by the
+devil, and how sorry I was. Then I slipped and went over the rocks up
+there. But I deserve all I've got, Uncle Jim. I was a scoundrel; and
+after all your kindness two years back, too."
+
+"But what were you coming up here for?" asked the trapper.
+
+"Why, Mosher, the grocery man, said some letters had come in his care for
+you and these youngsters that were at your place. He told me you'd
+arranged to have a half-breed bring up any mail that arrived, but that
+the carrier was down on his back with malarial fever. So I said I didn't
+mind running up. Was so late starting I had to spend the night in the
+woods. And then this morning that temptation got me."
+
+"But you repented--you meant to do the right thing, Ed. Oh, I'm glad you
+turned around and faced the other way before this thing happened."
+
+"So am I," groaned Ed, "but I'm afraid my leg's broken, and I'm sore
+inside like I'd fractured some of my ribs. What's going to come of me I
+don't know. And perhaps I don't care much either, though you'll be glad
+to know, Uncle Jim, that me and strong drink have parted company forever.
+Ain't tasted a drop these three months; but it shows what it did for me
+when I could stoop low enough to _steal_, and from one of the best
+friends I ever had."
+
+"That'll do for you, Ed," said the trapper, dropping on his knees beside
+the wounded man; "we're all weak and liable to give in to temptation. The
+fact that you repented is enough for me! We're going to carry you home
+with us."
+
+"Home--to your cabin, after I was so mean as to steal--"
+
+"Don't ever mention that to me again," ordered the trapper, sternly;
+"forget it just as though it had never been. Yes, your leg is broken, Ed,
+the left one, and quite a bad fracture, too. But I know how to fix you
+up, and in three weeks you'll be hopping around on a crutch."
+
+Ed fairly devoured him with his eyes.
+
+"They broke the model after they made you, Jim Ruggles," he muttered, as
+he put his hand to his side, indicating great pain there.
+
+"Now let's see what's wrong about your ribs, lad," said the trapper, as
+he started to undo the other's coat, and then his heavy blue woolen
+shirt.
+
+"I reckon you have got a rib cracked," he said, after a careful
+examination; "but nothing serious. Hurt for a while when you take a long
+breath, but it'll knit together again. And now--"
+
+Trapper Jim stopped short in the middle of a sentence. He was staring
+hard at something he had seen all of a sudden.
+
+"Where'd you get this, Ed Whitcomb?" he demanded, in a thick voice.
+
+As he spoke he caught hold of a locket which hung about the neck of the
+other by a little gold chain. It had been burst open possibly by the
+fall, and as Trapper Jim started to draw the shirt of the wounded man
+together again he had disturbed this keepsake, which, turning about,
+disclosed the face of a pretty young woman.
+
+"Why, she gave it to me," replied the other, weakly; "I've worn it that
+way ever since she died; and you're the first, right now, that's ever
+looked on it, Jim."
+
+The trapper's eyes filled up.
+
+"What was she to you, Ed Whitcomb?" he asked, gulping hard.
+
+"My mother, of course," came the answer.
+
+Trapper Jim simply turned the face on the locket so that Max could see
+it, and then he said in almost a whisper:
+
+"Susie Benedict!"
+
+Max understood. This, then, was the girl for love of whom Jim Ruggles had
+partly given up his ambition of ever being anything worth while when he
+fled to the wilderness.
+
+How wonderful things do happen at times Max thought.
+
+Why, only a few hours before Jim had been confessing to Owen and himself
+how sometimes he felt as though he would like to hunt up Susie's boy and
+do something for him, as he was possessed of ample means.
+
+And here a strange freak of fate had brought them together in this
+remarkable way. Why, they had even spent a winter in company without
+Trapper Jim ever suspecting the truth.
+
+But it was all right now.
+
+And Max privately confided to Steve, who demanded to know who Susie
+Benedict was at the first opportunity, that Old Jim would spend no more
+winters up there alone with his two dogs.
+
+"They'll make a team of it, and be as happy as two clams," he declared;
+while Steve was very much tickled at the way things had turned out.
+
+So, under the directions of the trapper, who was setting the broken leg
+without delay, the two boys fashioned a rude but effective litter upon
+which the wounded young man could be comfortably carried.
+
+The boys took turns with Trapper Jim in carrying the litter. Nothing
+seemed to weary the old trapper. He trudged on over hill and through the
+woods, as though his frame might be made of steel.
+
+But every time a halt was made he would come around to see if his rough
+bandages still held, and the hand that touched Ed Whitcomb was as tender
+as that of a woman, while his voice was filled with solicitude when he
+asked how the other felt.
+
+And Ed Whitcomb understood it all now. He marveled to think that this
+man, whom he had known so long, and who had really been the means of
+causing him to reform before it was too late, had once loved his mother!
+
+Darkness came on.
+
+They were still some distance from the cabin, and both boys looked tired,
+though unwilling to confess to the fact.
+
+"We're going through with it, that's what!" said Steve, with a snap of
+his jaws, when the wounded man suggested that they ought to rest.
+
+And they did.
+
+Trapper Jim showed them how to make some torches that would give a pretty
+good light. And the one who did not assist with the stretcher went ahead
+to show the way.
+
+And along about nine o'clock the barking of the dogs brought the three
+boys in the cabin to the door.
+
+Great was their surprise when they learned what had happened. Ed Whitcomb
+was made comfortable in the lower bunk, and the boys at once agreed the
+trapper was to occupy the other. The floor and those soft furs would
+furnish them with good enough beds.
+
+Of course the three who had been at home were wild to hear all about it.
+And Max thought it best to get them outdoors where he could relate the
+whole story, even to the fact of Jim Ruggles having once been head over
+ears in love with pretty Susie before she turned him down.
+
+They thought it was the greatest thing that had ever come under their
+observation. And all agreed that since Ed Whitcomb had repented after
+taking the precious pelt, and was on the way back with it,
+he must be all right.
+
+They meant to treat him as a man and a brother because it was evident
+that Uncle Jim was bound sooner or later to adopt the other as his son
+and heir.
+
+And that pelt _was_ a beauty, too; though none of the boys could realize
+that, according to what Trapper Jim said, it might be worth all of
+fifteen hundred dollars.
+
+Another day came around.
+
+Of course the trapper, having neglected his catch on account of the theft
+of the silver fox pelt, had to start off unusually early.
+
+This time Owen accompanied him, his ankle having improved.
+
+Toby, encouraged by the catch of fish which he and Bandy-legs had made on
+the preceding day, started out again, determined to make a record.
+
+The other three remained in and around the cabin, bringing up firewood,
+looking after the skins that had been placed in the air, where the sun
+could not get at them, and doing such chores as would fall to the lot of
+Trapper Jim were he alone.
+
+The letter which reached them had been from Mr. Hastings, telling them he
+had seen Steve's folks, as well as Mr. Griffin and Toby's guardian; and
+that since they had gone so far, and the school would not be ready until
+late in November, they might stay another week longer than they had
+contemplated, if they cared to do so.
+
+And by a unanimous vote the five boys had immediately decided that they
+_did_ care, so they enjoyed the prospect of more happy days ahead.
+
+It was almost noon when Toby was seen running frantically toward the
+cabin and minus his cap. Every few steps he would cast a look of fear
+over his shoulder.
+
+"What ails you?" shouted Steve, and Toby, though he could hardly speak,
+managed to blurt out:
+
+"B-b-bear--eatin' up all m-m-my f-f-fish. M-m-meant to t-t-tackle me
+n-n-next!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+SURPRISING BRUIN--_Conclusion_.
+
+
+"WHOOP!" shouted Steve, as he made a headlong plunge in the direction of
+the cabin door, closely followed by the other two.
+
+Of course all of them were after their guns, and it hardly seemed five
+seconds to Toby, panting without, ere his companions were tumbling
+pellmell through the cabin door again, each clutching his favorite
+weapon.
+
+"Lead us to him, Toby!" commanded Steve, arrogantly.
+
+"Yes, show us the big hulking beast that devoured your fish, Toby," said
+Bandy-legs, "we'll fix it up with him. I'm no slouch of a bear killer
+myself."
+
+"Aw, rats!" scoffed Steve. "This ain't one of your docile trapped bear
+kind, Bandy-legs. This one can run like all get-out. If he ever starts
+after you, it's dollars to doughnuts you'd never get away on them short
+pins of yours."
+
+"Can bears climb trees?" asked Bandy-legs, nervously.
+
+"Well, I should say yes, black bears especially. They live half the time
+up in trees," replied Steve, who was pushing on just behind Toby himself.
+
+Whereupon Bandy-legs discreetly allowed Max to pass him also. Since
+Nature had placed a serious handicap on him when dealing out those short
+legs, it seemed only right that he should be allowed a little extra
+distance. Then, in case the hungry fish-eating bear did see fit to charge
+them, all of the boys would be placed upon something like an equal
+footing.
+
+Toby was furious by now.
+
+He might have been simply frightened at the time he made his appearance
+before the cabin, but that feeling was rapidly giving way to anger. And
+bursting almost with indignation, he had to try and express himself to
+his comrades, despite the impediment in his speech, which was always
+worse when Toby grew excited.
+
+"B-b-been all the b-b-blessed m-m-mornin' a-c-c-coaxin' them p-p-pickerel
+to t-t-take hold, and h-h-here that b-b-bloomin' old c-c-crocodile of a
+b-b-bear had to s-s-swallow h-h-half of 'em in one b-b-big b-b-bite!"
+
+Max chuckled as he listened. He even found time to wonder whether Toby,
+if pressed, knew what sort of animal he meant by a "crocodile of a bear."
+But then a good deal of allowance must be made for a stuttering boy, and
+especially when he has a grievance as big as the one Toby shouldered.
+
+"There's the pond ahead," cried Steve; "now show us your old bear."
+
+"Come this way," said Toby. "I g-g-guess he's eat up all my s-s-string;
+and now he's hunting f-f-f or the can of b-b-bait."
+
+He led them into a thick part of the wood.
+
+"L-l-look!" whispered Toby, pointing.
+
+"It is a bear, as sure as you live!" exclaimed Max.
+
+"C-c-course it is," Toby went on; "w-w-what'd you think m-m-made me run?
+G-g-guess I know a s-s-stump when I see one."
+
+Max held the impetuous Steve back.
+
+"Wait," he said, "and let's all fire together. This bear isn't held by a
+trap, and if you only wound him there'd be a pretty kettle of fish."
+
+"Ain't no f-f-fish left; he's d-d-devoured even my b-b-bait, the old
+glutton!" bellowed Toby, shaking his fist toward the bear.
+
+Bruin evidently had enjoyed his unexpected meal immensely. Likely enough
+he had never before in all his life been offered a fish dinner gratis.
+Perhaps some of these other two-legged creatures that drew near, holding
+the funny sticks in their hands, might offer him another nice mess of
+pickerel fresh caught.
+
+So the bear stood there on the edge of the pond watching them approach,
+as though not a particle afraid, only curious--and still fish hungry.
+
+"See him licking his lips, would you!" cried Bandy-legs, still in the
+rear.
+
+"L-l-liked 'em so m-m-much, he w-w-wants m-m-more, hang him!"
+
+"We'll give him some cold lead instead," declared Steve, holding his
+double-barrel ready so he could shoot from the left shoulder; "see if
+he'll be able to digest it."
+
+"He'll die just now, anyhow, if all of us nail him," remarked Max,
+laughing at the way the bear stood there watching them spread out like a
+fan.
+
+"Aren't we close enough. Max?" asked Bandy-legs, who was nearly twice as
+far away as the two bolder spirits,
+
+"Yes," piped up Steve, "let's get to work. You count three, Max; and
+remember, Bandy-legs, don't you dare shoot till you hear him say 'three'
+plain as dirt."
+
+"But, Steve," said Max.
+
+"What d'ye want?" grumbled the other, trembling with eagerness to begin
+operations.
+
+"I hope you've only got one hammer raised," continued Max. "It'd be
+pretty tough if you fired both barrels again, and lamed your left
+shoulder, too."
+
+"Cracky! I guess you're right, Max. Wait a few seconds till I set one
+hammer down. I ain't going to take the chances. Shooting left-handed's
+bad enough, but what'd I do if I lamed that arm, too!"
+
+"Try it w-w-with your l-l-legs!" observed Toby.
+
+"All ready!" called out Max.
+
+"Q-q-quick! He's m-m-moving off!" shouted Toby.
+
+"All the better," said Max, coolly. "We can get a good aim at his side
+now; just back of the shoulder, remember, Bandy-legs!"
+
+"C-c-count!" begged Toby, who hated to think of the bold fish robber
+getting off scot-free after his recent raid.
+
+The bear was ambling off. Perhaps he had come to the wise conclusion that
+too much fish at one time was bad for a bear's digestion. And then,
+again, he did not altogether like the looks of all these queer two-legged
+creatures with those crooked black sticks which they kept poking out at
+him.
+
+He would not run away, because, of course, he was not really afraid; but
+even a bear might be allowed to conduct a masterly retreat.
+
+"One!" called out Max.
+
+The three guns were leveled.
+
+"Two!"
+
+Then cheeks pressed the stocks and eyes glanced along the tubes, while
+itching fingers began to play with waiting triggers.
+
+"Three!"
+
+It was almost the roar of a cannon that followed. Three guns had spoken
+almost in the same breath.
+
+"H-h-he's g-g-gone!" yelped Toby, who could see better than any of the
+others, because no little puff of white powder smoke obscured his vision.
+
+A tremendous thrashing in the water told them that the wounded bear must
+have toppled over into the partly frozen pond.
+
+"Look out for him!" cried Max.
+
+He had ejected the used cartridge from his magazine rifle with one quick
+motion. Another sent a fresh one into the firing chamber.
+
+Steve had drawn back the second hammer of his gun, and in this fashion
+then the two chums advanced straight toward the spot where they had last
+seen the bear.
+
+Bandy-legs, more cautious, kept farther off, though he, too, aimed to
+reach the border of the little lake, in order to see what was going on.
+
+"Got him!" whooped Steve, when he discovered that the bear was evidently
+fatally wounded, and fell back into the water every time he tried to
+climb the bank.
+
+It was Max who thought to mercifully put an end to the stricken beast's
+sufferings by another well-directed shot from his rifle.
+
+The bear was now dead. Even Toby put in his claim to a partnership in
+bringing about its demise. The right of first discovery rested with him,
+and he was ready to take up a defense of his claim at any time.
+
+So, in order to avoid all bad feelings, and insure peace in the family
+hereafter, Max declared that the honor should be jointly shared by tie
+whole four of them.
+
+"Whenever we speak of 'our' bear, you'll know which one we mean," he
+remarked; "and, now, the next thing is to get the old chap up on dry
+land."
+
+Securing some rope and a couple of blocks he had seen at the cabin,
+doubtless used when Trapper Jim wanted to haul logs, or with one man's
+power do a three-man job, Max fashioned a block and tackle.
+
+With this they easily got the bear up the bank.
+
+Then Max tried his hand at removing the skin, after which he cut up the
+bear, with Steve's assistance. And before Trapper Jim and Owen got back
+from setting a dozen more muskrat traps, as well as attending to those
+that had been neglected on the preceding day, everything needful had been
+done.
+
+Great indeed was the surprise of Trapper Jim when he finally arrived,
+tired and likewise hungry, to smell cooking bear steaks, and discover not
+one bear skin stretched out properly to cure, but two.
+
+The last one had been somewhat torn where the various leaden missiles had
+passed through. But the trapper assured the boys that if placed in the
+hands of a good fur dealer it could be easily sewed up, and would make
+them an elegant rug for their club room,
+
+"Every time you walk on it you'll remember this delightful little
+vacation spent with Trapper Jim in the North Woods," he declared.
+
+"And it will always have just a faint fishy smell to me, because the
+rascal ate up all Toby's morning catch before we got him," remarked Max.
+
+"S-s-say, we had f-f-fish for s-s-supper last night, didn't we?" demanded
+Toby.
+
+"That's right, we did," spoke up Steve, "and right sweet pickerel, too,
+thanks to the one who stuck it out all afternoon watching his poles and
+keeping one eye on the woods for the mate of our bear to appear. Oh, they
+were nice, all right! And I just dote on pickerel, all but the boot-jack
+bones."
+
+It can be safely assumed that they were a merry crowd that night.
+
+The boys, realizing that their period for fun up in those glorious North
+Woods had been extended another week, were bubbling over with joy.
+
+Trapper Jim had everything to make him contented, and even happy. Every
+time he touched that elegant fox skin he felt like shaking hands with
+himself because of the satisfaction it gave him--not so much the value of
+the pelt as the proud consciousness that he had finally been enabled to
+capture another of those rare and almost priceless prizes which every fur
+taker dreams about.
+
+And then, again, doubtless Uncle Jim found great reason for thankfulness
+every time he glanced toward Ed Whitcomb. What had been a vague,
+half-formed dream in his mind bade fair to become a reality. He was
+Susie's boy, and circumstances had thrown them together in a way so
+strange that it was surely intended that they should part no more.
+
+As for the wounded man, although he might often deep down in his heart
+deplore the weakness that had taken possession of him at sight of the
+captured silver fox, still, since it had brought Jim and him together,
+and revealed a new and entirely unsuspected bond between them, why should
+he regret it.
+
+Besides, Trapper Jim declared he owed the fox skin to Ed, anyhow. He had
+discovered that the animal had gnawed its foot almost off, and long
+before Jim and the boys came along would have gone limping off on three
+legs only that Ed appeared just in time to knock it on the head.
+
+With nearly two weeks ahead of them, it was only natural that Max and his
+four chums should anticipate other glorious times. And that they met with
+no disappointment in this respect the reader who has followed them thus
+far with interest will discover when he reads the next volume of the
+series:
+
+"CAUGHT IN A FOREST FIRE."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of With Trapper Jim in the North Woods, by 
+Lawrence J. Leslie
+
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