Part 10 (1/2)

During the Indian's white-fish month--the white man's November--the weather has becoes in the big log fire that delights the heart of the a frohten away nocturnal prowlers, a little, chip fire, such as the fishermen of the Banks use in their dories, is all the trapper allows hi leaves First frost quiets the floaters Except for the occasional splitting of a sap-frozen tree, or the far howl of a wolf-pack, there is the stillness of death And of all quiet things in the quiet forest, the trapper is the quietest

As winter closes in the ice-skie lakes cuts the bark canoe like a knife The canoe is abandoned for snow-shoes and the cotton tepee for more substantial shelter

If the trapper is a white round he has found Around this he sets a wide circle of traps at such distances their circuit requires an entire day, and leads the trapper out in one direction and back in another, without retracing the way Soes run from valley to valley Each cabin is stocked; and the hunter sleeps where night overtakes him But this plan needs two men; for if the traps are not closely watched, the wolverine will rifle away a priceless fox as readily as he eats a worthless musk-rat The stone fire-place stands at one end Moss, clay, and snow chink up the logs Parchment across a hole serves asPoles and brush make the roof, or perhaps the rele to slide off the accuht of snow

But if the trapper is an Indian, or the white er to carry the pelts -post, he around In this case he uses the _abuckwan_--canvas--for a shed tent, with one side sloping to the ground, banked by brush and snow, the other facing the fire, both tent and fire on such a slope that the smoke drifts out while the heat reflects in Pine and balsa out like sheaves in a stook, the foliage converging to a soft centre, form the trapper's bed

The snow is now too deep to travel without snow-shoes The frames for these the trapper makes of ash, birch, or best of all, the _reen wood up at one end, canoe shape, and sh runner, by means of the aard _couteau croche_, as the French hunter calls his crooked knife

In style, the snow-shoe varies with the hunting-ground On forested, rocky, hummocky land, the shoe is short to perle and slith to support the hunter's weight above the snow And the toe curve is slight; for speed is iround To save the instep from jars, the slip noose may be padded like a cowboy's stirrup

On the prairie, where the snowy reaches are unbroken as air, snow-shoes are wings to the hunter's heels They are long, and curved, and narrow, and sh on the runners for the hunter to sit on their rear ends and coast downhill as on a toboggan If a snag is struck lissade to the bottom; or the toe may catch, heels fly over head, and the hunter land with his feet noosed in fraher than his neck

Any trapper can read the story of a hunt from snow-shoes Bound and short: east of the Great Lakes Sli for the instep: either rock ground or long runs Filling of hide strips with broad enough interspaces for a sh: froion of the Atlantic coast, for trapping only, never the chase, se Lace ties, instead of a noose to hold the foot: the a taken from deer or caribou for the heel and toe; with _aski fro enough for speed, short enough to turn short: the trapper knows he is looking at the snow-shoe of the craftsman This is the sort he , then--a ; preferably a spinster moose; for she is too lazy to run from a hunter who is not yet a Mercury; and she will furnish his

Neither moose call nor birch horn, of which wonders are told, will avail now Theseason is well past Even if an old moose responded to the call, the chances are his flesh would be unfit for food It would be a wasted kill, contrary to the principles of the true trapper

Every anie as plain as print The trapper has hardly entered the forest before he begins to read this language Broad hoof-, covered with moss--over which the moose can skim as if on snow-shoes, where a horse would sink to the saddle Park-like glades at the heads of streas and ing in water holes to get rid of sand flies, show tra suddenly on a grove of quaking aspens, a saucy jay has fluttered up with a noisy call--an alar in a thicket on the far side of the grove The _wis-kat-jan_, or whisky jack, as the white s about the moose herds, has seen the trapper and sounded the alarreat, palmated horns, which budded out on the male in July, are yet in the velvet, the trapper finds scraps of furry hair sticking to young saplings The vainhis antlers, preparatory tothe branches Thehis rivals to battle Wood-choppers have been interrupted by the apparition of a huge, pal the axe for his rival's defiance, the e that sends the chopper up a tree, or back to the shanty for his rifle

But the trapper allows these opportunities to pass He is not ready for hisof the canoe Then the round

It is not hard for the trapper to find a moose yard There is the tell-tale cleft footprint in the snow There are the cast-off antlers after the battles have been fought--the fe without horns and entirely dependent on speed and hearing and smell for protection

There is the stripped, overhead there a s and nibbled a branch above There is the bent or broken sapling which a moose pulled doith his mouth and then held doith his feet while he browsed This and e of man--lead the trapper close on the haunts of a moose herd But he does not want an ordinary hty spinster And he probably comes on the print when he has almost made up his mind to chance a shot at one of the herd below the hill, where he hides He knows the trail is that of a spinster It is unusually heavy; and she is always fat It drags clumsily over the snow; for she is lazy And it doesn't travel straight away in a line like that of the roving moose; for she loiters to feed and dawdle out of pure indolence

And now the trapper kno a hound on a hot scent feels Heout his hand and taking it--sighting his rifle and touching the trigger Or, by the blunder of a hair's breadth, he may daily track twenty weary e-belt, ee-belt, eh his words curse thethe game to earth frohtaway hunt is erous to the man than the moose Even a fat spinster can outdistance a er than her strength--for though a , swift trot, it is easily tired--the exhausted moose is a s and does defter things with the flattening blow of her fore feet than an exhausted un The blow of a cleft hoofhoof lands And if the soles on the snow in death-throes, theis still Then she goes on her ith eyes ablaze and every shaggy hair bristling

The contest was even and the moose won

Apart frohtaway chase, which repels the trapper It usually succeeds by bogging the moose in crusted snow, or a waterhole--and then, Indian fashi+on, a slaughter; and no trapper kills for the sake of killing, for the simple practical reason that his own life depends on the preservation of gaht snowfall and the wind in his face are ideal conditions for a still hunt One conceals hiame

Which way does the newly-discovered footprint run? More flakes are in one hole than the other He follows the trail till he has an idea of the direction theand doubling back on cold tracks like the deer, butdirect to the objective point, where it turns, circles slightly--a loop at the end of a line--and lies down a little off the trail When the pursuer, following the cold scent, runs past, the ets wind and is off in the opposite direction like a vanishi+ng streak

Having ascertained the lie of the land, the trapper leaves the line of direct trail and follows in a circling detour Here, he finds the print fresher, not an hour old The s arealways by a detour to leeward He is sure, now, that it is a spinster

If it had been any other, theinto the leader's steps; and by the fresh trail he knows for a certainty there is only one But his very nearness increases the risk The windThis time, when he coets his rifle ready He dare not put his foot doithout testing the snow, lest a twig snap He parts a way through the brush with his hand and replaces every branch And when next he comes back to the line of the moose's travel, there is no trail This is what he expected He takes off his coat; his leggings, if they are loose enough to rub with a leathery swish; his musk-rat fur cap, if it has any conspicuous colour; his boots, if they are noisy and given to crunching If only he ai all impedimenta, he follows back on his own steps to the place where he last saw the trail

Perhaps the saucy jay cries with a shrill, scolding shriek that sends cold shi+vers down the trapper's spine He wishes he could get his hands on its wretched little neck; and turning himself to a statue, he stands stone-still till the troublesooes on