n the log trap, with but a poor chance of
ever getting out again, unless external assistance came along.

"Any more tricks like these two up your sleeve, Obed?" asked Steve,
after they had further examined the deadfall, and Max had pronounced it
skillfully constructed.

"Well, I'm afraid I reached the end o' my rope when I hatched up this
second idea, Steve," the other remarked, in a sort of apologetic tone.
"Of course I might think up a few more if I reckoned it'd be necessary.
But I've got a hunch that one o' the lot is agoin' tuh grab that thief,
providin' he does come around here. Besides, when yuh git right down to
brass tacks, thar isn't as much danger o' my bein' robbed in the
night-time, as in the day."

"And why not, Obed?" further asked Steve; "I'd think that was the very
time you'd feel scariest, when it was dark, and you couldn't see if
anybody was prowling around the farm."

"Stop an' think how foxes have holes in the ground, into which they c'n
burrow when scared the least mite," explained Obed, readily, "and yuh'll
see how hard it'd be for a stranger to lay hands on them. Now, in the
daytime, if they came along, with me away from the place, a man with a
rifle could knock over my pets as easy as turnin' his hand. But, all the
same, I've fixed my traps. For one thing I'd like to find out jest who
the thief is."

Max noticed what emphasis he put on that last remark. He could see the
customary twinkle in Obed's eyes give way to a sterner look; as though
he had brooded more or less over this same subject. And Max himself
nodded his head as though he might in a measure understand just how Obed
felt.

So they returned to the house. Bandy-legs at least rejoiced because with
all those clever contraptions set, and waiting to give the intended
thief a warm reception, it did seem as though there would be hardly any
necessity for them to waste their precious time in sitting up and
keeping watch, when they would be so much better off enjoying "balmy
sleep," as he called it; and all sleep was along that order, according
to the mind of Bandy-legs.

Max and Steve trailed along well in the rear. This may have simply
happened, but Steve twice stopped the other, and pointed out something
he wished Max to see; so possibly the delay was intentional on his part.
At least, he presently made a remark that would make it seem so.

"It certainly looks as if Obed was a pretty ingenious maker of snares,
that's sure, Max?" St