p, an' not tear the fur, is good enough for
us."

"Yes, I know all your traps, of all the sizes you use, from muskrat up
to bear!" interrupted the Boy. "What size do you use for the beaver?"

"Number four," answered Jabe. "Jaw's got a spread of six and one-half
inches or thereabouts. But it's all in the where an' the how ye set
yer trap!"

"And that's what I want to know about!" said the Boy. "But why don't
you _shoot_ the poor little beggars? That's quicker for both, and just
as easy for you, ain't it?"

"T'ain't no use _shootin'_ a beaver, leastways not in the water! He
just sinks like a stone. No, ye've _got_ to trap him, to _git_ him.
Now, supposin' you was goin' to trap, where would ye set the traps?"

"I'd anchor them just in the entrances to their houses," answered the
Boy promptly. "Or along their canals, when they've got canals. Or
round their brush piles an' storage heaps. And when I found a tree
they'd just partly cut down, I'd set a couple of traps, covered up in
leaves, each side of the trunk, where they'd have to step on the pan
when they stood up to gnaw."

"Good for you!" said Jabe, with cordial approbation. "Ye'd make a
first-class trapper, 'cause ye've got the right notion. Every one of
them things is done, one time or another, by the old trapper. But
here's one or two wrinkles more killin' yet. An' moreover, if ye trap
a beaver on land ye're like to lose him one way or another. He's got
so much _purchase_, on land, with things to git hold on to; he's jest
as like as not to twist his leg clean off, an' git away. If it's one
of his fore legs, which is small an' slight, ye know, he's most sure
to twist it off. An' sometimes he'll do the trick even with a hind
leg. I've caught lots of beaver as had lost a fore leg, an' didn't
seem none the worse. The fur'd growed over it, an' they was slick an'
hearty. An' I've caught them as had lost a hind leg, an' they was in
good condition. A beaver'll stand a lot, I tell you. But then,
supposin' you git yer beaver, caught so fast he ain't no chance
whatever to git clear. Then, like as not, some lynx, or wildcat, or
fisher, or fox, or even maybe a bear, 'll come along an' help himself
to Mr. Beaver without so much as a by yer leave. No, ye want to git
him in the water; an' as he's just as anxious to git thar as you are
to git him thar, that suits all parties to a T."

[Illustration: "'OR EVEN MAYBE A BEAR.'"]

"Good!" said the Boy,--not that it really seemed