d of a settlement of Ojibways gave him an
opportunity of witnessing this sport in perfection.

CHAPTER TEN.

A RAT-HUNT.

"Chingawa," began he, "a Chippeway or Ojibway Indian, better-known at
the fort as `Old Foxey,' was a noted hunter of his tribe. I had grown
to be a favourite with him. My well-known passion for the chase was a
sort of masonic link between us; and our friendship was farther
augmented by the present of an old knife for which I had no farther use.
The knife was not worth twopence of sterling money, but it made `Old
Foxey' my best friend; and all his `hunter-craft'--the gatherings of
about sixty winters--became mine.

"I had not yet been inducted into the mystery of `rat-catching,' but the
season for that `noble' sport at length arrived, and the Indian hunter
invited me to join him in a muskrat hunt.

"Taking our `traps' on our shoulders, we set out for the place where the
game was to be found. This was a chain of small lakes or ponds that ran
through a marshy valley, some ten or twelve miles distant from the fort.

"The traps, or implements, consisted of an ice-chisel with a handle some
five feet in length, a small pickaxe, an iron-pointed spear barbed only
on one side, with a long straight shaft, and a light pole about a dozen
feet in length, quite straight and supple.

"We had provided ourselves with a small stock of eatables as well as
materials for kindling a fire--but no Indian is ever without these. We
had also carried our blankets along with us, as we designed to make a
night of it by the lakes.

"After trudging for several hours through the silent winter forests, and
crossing both lakes and rivers upon the ice, we reached the great marsh.
Of course, this, as well as the lakes, was frozen over with thick ice;
we could have traversed it with a loaded waggon and horses without
danger of breaking through.

"We soon came to some dome-shaped heaps rising above the level of the
ice. They were of mud, bound together with grass and flags, and were
hardened by the frost. Within each of these rounded heaps, Old Foxey
knew there was at least half a dozen muskrats--perhaps three times that
number--lying snug and warm and huddled together.

"Since there appeared no hole or entrance, the question was how to get
at the animals inside. Simply by digging until the inside should be
laid open, thought I. This of itself would be no slight labour. The
roof and sides, as my companion informed