Part 19 (2/2)

Frequently it is a beaver colony built across a valley in the h The trapper was sleeping under his canoe on the banks of the river where the swa to as a boat by day and a bed by night, he had set out a fish net and some loose lines--which the flow of the current would keep in motion--below the waterfall Carelessly, next day, he threw the fish-heads a he found such athe rime of the hoar frost that he erected a tent back fro there till the winter The fish-heads were no longer throay They were left ahted with other stones, or attached to a loose stick that would iyrfalcon could have seen the , breaking its teeth on the iron, spitting out all the rage of its wicked nature, the bird would have been avenged

And as winter deepened, the quality of minks taken from the traps became darker, silkier, crisper, alht fur on the under lip The Indians say that sak theas fish lay aathered his harvest of fur: reddish mink that would be made into little neck ruffs and collar pieces, reddish brown mink that would be sewed into costly coats and cloaks, rare brownish black mink that would be put into the beautiful flat scarf collars almost as costly as a full coat And so the mink-hunt went on merrily for the man till the midwinter lull came at Christmas For that year the mink-hunt was over

II

_Nekik the Otter_

Sakas not the only fisher at the pool below the falls On one of those idle days when the trapper sat lazily by the river side, a round head slightly sunburned from black to russet had hobbled up to the surface of the water, peered sharply at theso still, paddled little flipper-like feet about, then ducked down again

Motionless as theunder him sits the ain, round as a golf ball, about the size of a very large cat, followed by three other little bobbing heads--aher babies to dive and swim and duck fro the river bank

Perhaps the trapper has found a dead fish along this very bank with only the choice portions of the body eaten--a sure sign that nekik the otter, the little epicure of the water world, has been fishi+ng at this river

With a scarcely perceptible motion, the man turns his head to watch the swie, her up-strea for a glorious frolic in the cold clear waters of the upper sources At one place on the sandy beach they all wade ashore The ht ”Hiss!” Away they scasters, landward instead of to the safe water as the hesitatingover the sand with the funny short steps of a Chinese lady in tight boots Maternal care proves stronger than fear The frightenedotter and will no doubt read theers when she has rounded theher up-stream

Of all wild creatures, none is so crafty in concealing its lairs as the otter Where did this fa up-strea before they appeared on the surface Stripping, the trapper dives inthe steepest bank, running his arainst the clay cliff to find a burrow On land he could not do this at the lair of the otter; for the smell of the man-touch would be left on his trail, and the otter, keener of scent and fear than the mink, would take alare for the otter, it is the surest hunting for the man--water does not keep the scent of a trail So thethe bank The river is the surest hunting for the man, but not the safest

If an oldfroallery, ittrapper One bite of nekik the otter has crippledfrom the remnants of half-eaten fish and from the holes in the bank that he has found an otter runway, the ood day's work

And so that winter when he had camped below the swamp for theto find a half-eaten fish on the river bank Sak the reedy led a dozen water-rats in one hunt, they will be dragged in a heap and covered The half-eaten fish left exposed is not mink's work Otter has been here and otter will come back; for as the frost hardens, only those pools below the falls keep free fro as fresh fish are to be had for the taking

Besides, thethe half-eaten fish lie farther off the line of the man-trail

By-and-bye the man notices that no more half-eaten fish are on his side of the river Little tracks of webbed feet furrowing a deep rut in the soft snow of the frozen river tell that nekik has taken alar fro of the mink-hunt, the man, too, crosses to the other side Here he finds that the otter tracks have worn a path that is alan slide down the crusted snow bank to the iced edge of the pool By this tilossy as floss By this time, too, the fish are scarce and the epicure has becoht when the trapper was reconnoitring the fish hole, he had approached the snow bank so noiselessly that he cae of his presence Down the snow bank they tuh the snoith their little paws braced, rolling down on their backs like lads upset froan, otter after otter, till theat all, but coasting the snow bank like youngsters on a night frolic No sooner did one reach the bottom than up he scampered to repeat the fun; and so bunch ans that were unpre their occupants Bears wrestle The kittens of all the cat tribe play hide and seek Little badger finds it fun to run round rubbing the back of his head on things; and here was nekik the otter at the favourite a down a snow bank

If the trapper were an Indian, he would lie in wait at the landing-place and spear the otter as they came from the water But the white hten the otter till the last had been taken Co to the slide by day, he baits a steel-trap with fish and buries it in the snow just where the otter will be co down the hill or up from the pool Perhaps he places a dozen such traps around the hole with nothing visible but the frozen fish lying on the surface If he sets his traps during a snow-fall, so much the better

His own tracks will be obliterated and the otter's nose will discover the fish Then he takes a bag filled with some substance of animal odour, pomatum, fresh meat, pork, or he s over the snohere he has stepped He may even use a fresh hide to handle the traps, as a waiter uses a serviette to pass plates There must be no man-smell, no man-track near the otter traps

While thelasts from October to May The value of all rare furs, s: (1) the latitude of the hunting-field; (2) the season of the hunt For instance, ask a trapper of Minnesota or Lake Superior what he thinks of the ermine, and he will tell you that it is a miserable sort of weasel of a dirty drab brown not worth twenty-five cents a skin Ask a trapper of the North Saskatchehat he thinks of ermine; and he will tell you it is a pretty little whitish creature good for fur if trapped late enough in the winter and always useful as a lining But ask a trapper of the Arctic about the ermine, and he describes it as the finest fur that is taken except the silver fox, white and soft as swan's-doith a tail-tip like black onyx

This difference in the fur of the animal explains the wide variety of prices paid Erht be worth ten times as much on the Saskatchewan

[Illustration:

Fur press in use at Fort Good Hope, at the extree press in use at Fort Resolution, of the sub-Arctics

Types of Fur Presses]

So it is with the otter All trapped between latitude thirty-five and sixty is good fur; and the best is that taken toward the end of winter when scarcely a russet hair should be found in the long over-fur of nekik's coat

III

_Wuchak the Fisher, or Pekan_

Wherever the waste of fish or deer is thrown, there will be found lines of double tracks not so large as the wild-cat's, not so s as the mink's This is wuchak the fisher, or pekan, commonly called ”the black cat”--who, in spite of his fishy name, hates water as cats hate it And the tracks are double because pekan travel in pairs He is found along the banks of streams because he preys on fish and fisher, on s and birds and creatures that coreedy fellow, not at all particular about his diet, and, like all gluttons, easily snared While mink and otter are about, the trapper aste no steel-traps on pekan A deadfall will act just as effectively; but there is one point requiring care Pekan has a sharp nose It is his nose that brings him to all carrion just as surely as hawks come to pick dead bones But that same nose will tell him of s so that the front log or deadfall will crush down on the back of an intruder tugging at the bait inside, he overlays all with leaves and brush to quiet the pekan's suspicions Besides, the pekan has many tricks akin to the wolverine He is an inveterate thief There is a well-known instance of Hudson's Bay trappers having a line of one hundred and fiftyfor fifty miles robbed of their bait by pekan The men shortened the line to thirty miles and for six times in succession did pekan destroy the traps Then the men set themselves to trap the robber

He will rifle a deadfall froer; so the trapper overlays the back with heavy brush