CHAPTER XX
AT THE BEAVER POND
The second day in camp promised to be very nearly as full of action asthat lively first one had been. Every scout had half a dozen things hewanted to do; so, acting on the advice of Paul, each made out a list,and thus followed a regular programme.
Jud, having learned that there were partridges about, set off with hisshotgun to see if he could bag a few of the plump birds.
"Don't forget there are ten of us here, Jud!" called Spider Sexton,"and that each one of us can get away with a bird."
"Have a heart, can't you?" remonstrated the Nimrod, laughingly. "Cutit down to half all around, and I might try to oblige you. Think ofme, staggering along under such a load of game as that. Guess younever hefted a fat partridge, Spider."
"I admit that I never _ate_ one, if that suits you, Jud," replied theother, frankly.
Paul on his part had told Tolly Tip he would like to accompany him onhis round of the traps on that particular morning.
"Of course, I've got an object in view when I say that," he explained."It is to take a look at the beaver house you've been telling meabout. I want to take my camera along, and snap off a few views of it.That will be better than nothing when we tell the story."
"Count me in on that trip, Paul," said Spider Sexton. "I always didwant to see a regular beaver colony, and learn how they make the damwhere their houses are built. I hope you don't object to my joiningyou?"
"Not a bit. Only too glad to have you for company, Spider," answeredthe scout-master. "Only both of us are under Tolly Tip's orders, youunderstand. He has his rules when visiting the traps, which we mustn'tbreak, as that might ruin his chances of taking more pelts."
"How can that be, Paul?" demanded the other.
"Oh! you'll understand better as you go along," called out Bluff, whowas close by and heard this talk. "Sandy Griggs and I learned a heapyesterday while helping him gather his harvest of skins. And for one,I'll never forget what he explained to me, it was all sointeresting."
"The main thing is this," Paul went on to say, in order to relieveSpider's intense curiosity to some extent. "You must know all thesewild animals are gifted with a marvelous sense of smell, and canreadily detect the fact that a human being has been near theirhaunts."
"Why, I never thought about that before, Paul," admitted Spider; "butI can see how it must be so. I've hunted with a good setter, and knowwhat a dog's scent is."
"Well, a mink or an otter or a fox is gifted even more than the bestdog you ever saw," Paul continued, "and on that account it's always upto the trapper to conceal the fact that a human being has been around,because these animals seem to know by instinct that man is theirmortal enemy."
"How does he do it then?" asked Spider.
"You'll see by watching Tolly Tip," the scout-master told him."Sometimes trappers set their snares by means of a skiff, so as not toleave a trace of their presence, for water carries no scent. Thenagain they will wade to and from the place where the trap is set."
"But in the winter-time they couldn't do that, could they?" protestedSpider.
"Of course not, and to overcome that obstacle they sometimes use ascent that overpowers their own, as well as serves to draw the animalto the fatal trap."
"Oh! I remember now seeing some such thing advertised in a sportingmagazine as worth its weight in gold to all trappers. And the more Ihear about this the stronger my desire grows to see into it. Are wegoing to start soon, Paul?"
"There's Tolly Tip almost ready to move along, so get your gun, andI'll look after my camera, Spider."
At the time they left Camp Garrity it presented quite a bustlingpicture. There was Bobolink lustily swinging the axe and cutting somewood close by the shed where a winter's supply of fuel had been piledup. Tom Betts was busying himself cleaning some of the fish taken onthe preceding day. Jack was hanging out all the blankets on severallines for an airing, as they still smelled of camphor to adisagreeable extent. Several others were moving to and fro engaged invarious duties.
As the two scouts trotted along at the heels of the old woodsman theyfound many things to chat about, for there was no need of keepingsilent at this early stage of the hike. Later on when in the vicinityof the trap line it would be necessary to bridle their tongues, or atleast to talk in whispers, for the wary little animals would be apt toshun a neighborhood where they heard the sound of human voices.
"One reason I wanted to come out this morning," explained Paul, "wasthat there seems to be a feeling in the air that spells storm to me.If we had a heavy fall of snow the beaver house might be hidden fromview."
"What's that you say, Paul--a storm, when the sun's shining as brightas ever it could? Have you had a wireless from Washington?" demandedSpider, grinning.
"Oh! I seem to _feel_ it in my bones," laughed Paul. "Always didaffect me that way, somehow or other. And nine times out of ten mybarometer tells me truly. How about that, Tolly Tip? Is this fineweather apt to last much longer?"
The guide seemed to be amused at what they were saying.
"Sure and I'm tickled to death to hear ye say that same, Paul," hereplied. "By the powers I'm blissed wid the same kind av a barometerin me bones. Yis, and the signs do be tilling me that inside offorty-eight hours, mebbe a deal less nor that, we're due for ascreecher. It has been savin' up a long while now, and whin she breaksloose--howly smoke, but we'll git it!"
"Meaning a big storm, eh, Tolly Tip?" asked Spider, looking a bitincredulous.
"Take me worrd for the same, lads," the woodsman told them.
"Well, if your prediction comes true," said Spider, "I must try tofind out how to know what sort of weather is coming. I often watch thepredictions of the Weather Bureau tacked up at the post office, butlots of times it's away off the track. Bobolink was saying only thismorning that he expected we'd skip all the bad weather on this trip."
At mention of Bobolink's name, the trapper chuckled.
"'Tis a quare chap that same Bobolink sames to be," he observed. "Hesays such amusin' things at times. Only this same mornin' do ye knowhe asks me whether I could till him if that short tramp's hand hadbeen hurted by a cut or a burrn. Just as if that mattered to us atall, at all."
Paul did not say anything, but his eyebrows went up as though a suddenthought had struck him. Whatever was in his mind he kept to himself.
When they arrived at the marsh where Tolly Tip had several of histraps set he told his companions what he wanted them to do. Undercertain conditions they could approach with him and witness theprocess of taking out the victim, if fortune had been kind to thetrapper. Afterwards they would see how he reset the trap, and thenbacked away, removing every possible evidence of his presence.
Both scouts were deeply interested, though Spider rather pitied thepoor rats they took from the cruel jaws of the Newhouse traps, andinwardly decided that after all he would never like to be a gathererof pelts.
Later on Tolly Tip led them to the frozen creek, where they picked upa splendid mink and an otter as well. Shrewd and sly though theselittle wearers of fur coats were, they had not been able to withstandthe temptation of the bait the trapper had placed in their haunts,with the result that they paid the penalty of their greed with theirlives.
Finally the trio reached the pond where the beaver lived. It was, ofcourse, ice covered, but the conical mound in the middle interestedthe boys very much. Paul took several pictures of it, with his twocompanions standing in the foreground, as positive evidence that thescouts had been on the spot.
They also examined the strong dam which the cunning animals hadconstructed across the creek, so as to hold a certain depth of water.When the boys saw the girth of the trees the sharp teeth of thebeavers had cut into lengths in order to form the dam, the scouts wereamazed.
"I'd give a lot to see them at work," declared Paul. "If I get half achance, Tolly Tip, I'm going to come up here next spring if you'llsend me word when they're on the job. It would be well worth the tripon horseback from Stanhope."
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Upon arriving at the camp toward noon the boys and their guide foundeverything running smoothly, and a great deal accomplished. Jud hadnot come back as yet, but several times distant shots had been heard,and the boys were indulging in high hopes of what Jud would bringback.
"You musn't forget though," Paul warned these optimists, "that we'renot the only pebbles on the beach. There are others in these woods,some of them with guns, and no mean hunters at that."
"Meaning the Lawson crowd," remarked Bobolink. "Your statement isquite true, for I've seen Hank do some mighty fine shooting in timespast. He likes nothing so much as to wander around day after day inthe fall, with a gun in his hands, just as old Rip Van Winkle used todo."
"Yes," remarked Jack, drily, "a gun in hand has served as an excusefor a _loaf_ in more ways than getting the family bread."
"Hey!" cried Bluff, "there comes Jud right now. And look what he'sgot, will you?"
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