was of a
different opinion. After breakfast he led the way to the place where the
trap lay, and without hesitation walked into the tall grass, stooped
down, and at once held up to view a long, dark animal at sight of which
the boys uttered a joint whoop of joy!

"We got him!" said John. "We certainly did get a fox, and the very first
night, too."

"Yes," agreed Rob, "we did more than that: we got a silver-gray fox, and
a mighty good one at that. Was there ever such luck, I do wonder!"

Skookie took it all as a matter of course, but the others were much
excited over this discovery. They put the silky, handsome animal upon
the ground and began to smooth out its fur. The fangs of the _klipsie_
had struck it in the back of the neck and killed it instantly, so that
the coat remained quite smooth and undisturbed by any struggles. It was
long and silky--dark, with white-tipped tail, and gray extremities on
all the hairs of the back.

"This skin ought to be worth anyhow one hundred dollars," said Rob,
critically. "At least that would be my guess at it. The natives don't
often get that much, but sometimes a trader will buy a skin for fifty
dollars and sell it for five or six hundred. That all depends on the
sort of market he finds."

"Anyhow," said Jesse, "it proves that Skookie can trap foxes all right."

The young Aleut was not disturbed by this praise, and proceeded to
further prove his ability as a trapper. Having again set his _klipsie_
at a point a few yards farther down the trail, he took up the dead fox
and led the way back to the barabbara, where he undertook to carry the
carcass in for his skinning operations.

At this Rob demurred, for he had already seen proof of the custom of the
native trappers, who nearly always skin out their game at the fireside
of the barabbara, and who are very careless where they leave the
carcasses.

"No, you don't!" said Rob. "We've just cleaned out that house, and we
don't want it mussed up again so soon. Let's go over to the beach and
skin our fox."

Skookie, always docile and willing to obey, once more led the way,
carrying the fox under his arm. At last he seated himself on the ground,
sharpened his knife-blade on a stone, and began to skin out the fox,
much as an old trapper would. He made a cut from one hind leg to the
other, cut off the tail bone, pulled the tail off clean by the use of
two sticks clamped against the bone, and proceeded to remove the skin
from the body w