Part 2 (1/2)

”Is that any better?” he asked, laughingly.

”A thousand per cent,” replied Felix. ”But say, I'm as hungry as a bear; and we can't get supper any too soon to suit me.”

”Same here,” chirped Tom; with which remark he started in to make immediate preparations for the meal.

Expecting to depend for the most part on the game they would find, for their subsistence while in the wilderness, they had carried only certain things along, in the shape of bacon, salt pork, coffee, tea, some sugar, flour, rice, hominy, and about a quart of onions for an occasional relish. That, with their blankets, some extra clothes, and ammunition, made up the heavy packs which the boys had been carrying on their backs for three full days now--the snow-shoes counted for little, as they were light weight.

While Tom made the coffee, Felix busied himself in cooking some of the bacon. Until they had managed to knock over a deer, or supplied themselves with meat in some other fas.h.i.+on, they must make a raid daily on their scanty stock of food.

”But tomorrow we'll both get busy, and see what we can bag,” remarked Tom, when the other mentioned this depressing fact.

There were a few crackers left, as well as some cheese, upon which they had subsisted at ”noonings” on the way, not wis.h.i.+ng to bother lighting a fire, and spending time in cooking anything, when in such haste to get located in their quarters.

Altogether they had a good satisfying meal, and Felix declared after it was over that he felt many times better.

”I'm going to smoke one pipe, just to give a flavor to the old shack where Sol burned many a pound of the weed in his day,” remarked Tom, settling back comfortably, with a block of wood to support him.

”And what's in the wind then?” asked his cousin.

”I might try my hand at taking our first pelt,” chuckled the other.

”Oh! yes, to be sure, I'd about forgotten that he's got a fur worth keeping. And Tom, every time we look at it, won't we just remember what a welcome he gave us on our arrival. To be sure it was only in growls; but then, that's the only language a poor old cat's got. But when you say you mean to try your hand, you're only joking, because I wager you took off many a pelt when out with Old Sol Ten Eyck.”

”Of course, and I hope I haven't forgotten the lessons he taught me; for there never was a better trapper known than Sol in his prime. He's brought in the skins of every kind of animal in the country, from a black fox, down to muskrat hides, when you couldn't hardly give these last away. But nowadays, with the big demand for all kinds of furs, and a shortening supply, the muskies are fetching a price that makes it pay a fellow to gather them.”

”That's what I understood from a big fur dealer,” Felix went on to remark. ”What's going to happen when all the seals and foxes and mink and otter are gone, n.o.body knows. He said that people would either have to quit wearing any kind of furs; or else be satisfied with muskrat, or something that never will be extinct.”

”Look at the wolf, for instance,” said Tom. ”Time was, when it hardly paid to skin one on the ranch, when we shot them. How is it now? Why, they've found that those skins make the finest kinds of warm coats for men driving in automobiles; and the consequence is the price keeps going up right along. Mr. Wolf has a rough road ahead of him in the next ten years. But n.o.body will cry if he's wiped out, because he's a bad lot, and sure death to young calves in the herd.”

Felix was not addicted to the smoking habit, which probably was a good thing, as he lacked the robust figure of his western cousin. But Tom did certainly seem to suck a great deal of consolation from that little pipe of his, and the other boy had no objection to the fumes, indeed, the fragrant odor of the tonca bean, which was mixed with Tom's tobacco rather pleased his senses.

After he had finished that one pipe, Tom arose, and picking up his knife, said he would step out to attend to the dead cat.

”If I can't get the right light, why, I might hang the old boy up from the limb of a tree until morning,” he said; ”only that's likely to fetch others of the breed yowling around tonight. But I'll see.”

A full moon had arisen after sunset, and while the trees kept much of her light from reaching the ground, still it was far from dark. Tom, however, was particular with respect to how he took off any pelt, and decided that it had better wait until morning. He stood outside there quite a little while, until Felix came to the door to ascertain what he was doing.

”Not taking time to bother with the hide tonight, then?” he asked, as he discovered the dead cat swinging about six feet from the ground, having been fastened there with a stout cord.

”Changed my mind, and concluded it would make a better job in daylight,”

answered the other. ”But I was standing here, listening to something that ought to make you feel happy.”

”What was that?” asked Felix, his curiosity of course aroused.

”I heard a 'woof woof' over there that told me a bear was pa.s.sing by, and had got a whiff of human presence here,” Tom went on to say, chuckling in his usual way.

”And do you think it could be a grizzly?” demanded Felix, thrilled with the very thought of such a thing.