discredit; the careless hunter having simply left enough man-smell on
the trap to form a guide that told the animal exactly where the trap
lay. Then, the overwhelming curiosity of the fox had compelled it to
investigate the mystery by digging it up, and when found, the fox in
its usual way would play with the strange object; just as a domestic
kitten would do, and so the fox would set off the trap.

THE LAST RESORT

On my first trips into the forest, whenever I questioned an Indian
hunter as to the cause of this or that, the completeness of his graphic
explanation always puzzled me; for I could not understand how it was
that when he was not an eye-witness, he knew all the details of the
affair as well as though the dead animal itself had told him the full
story. But when I, too, began to study Nature's book on woodcraft, it
amazed me no longer; for then I realized that to those who had studied
enough it was easy to read the drama of the forest; especially in the
winter, for then Nature never fails to record it, and every story is
always published just where it happens. Even to those who have not
taken the Indian degree in woodcraft, it is not difficult to read in
winter time the annals of animal life in the forest, for then Nature
describes with ample detail many an interesting story. In winter time,
too, even a blind Indian can follow a trail of which a town-bred man
with normal sight could see no trace.

If his steel traps fail, the Indian may resort to still another
method--the gun trap--regardless of the fact that this may lessen the
value of the animal's pelt. A gun, first carefully cleaned and loaded
with the exception of the cap, is placed in a nearly horizontal
position about two feet above the snow and lashed securely to two
posts; the barrel slanting downward to a point about a foot in height
and eight feet away. At that precise spot the bait stick is so fixed
that when the fox seizes the bait, its head will be directly in line
with the gun-barrel. Fastened to the bait by one end will be a thong,
the other end of which will be attached to the trigger, and will
discharge the gun when the bait is seized. When all is in readiness,
the cap is put on the nipple, and a birch-bark shelter arranged to keep
the gun-lock free from falling snow. Brush is then placed in the snow
in such a way that it will cause the fox to approach from only one
direction, and that the one the hunter desires. It is not a goo