Against the face of a cliff he raised several huge stones so as to form
a sort of box, or cave, or hole, the front of which was open, the sides
being the stones referred to, and the back the cliff. Then he felled a
tree as thick as his waist, which stood close by, and so managed that it
fell near to his trap. By great exertions, and with the aid of a wooden
lever prepared on the spot, he rolled this tree--when denuded of its
branches--close to the mouth of the trap. Next he cut three small
pieces of stick in such a form that they made a trigger--something like
the figure 4--on which the tree might rest. On the top of this trigger
he raised the tree-stem, and on the end of the trigger, which projected
into the trap, he stuck a piece of dried fish, so that when the bear
should creep under the stem and touch the bait, it would disarrange the
trigger, set it off, and the heavy stem would fall on bruin's back. As
he knew, however, that bears were very strong, he cut several other
thick stems, and piled them on the first to give it additional weight.

All being ready, and the evening far advanced, he returned to the hut to
supper.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

ROY'S DREAM.

"Nelly, ye-a-a-ow!" exclaimed Roy, yawning as he awoke on the following
morning from a dream, in which bears figured largely; "what a night I've
had of it, to be sure--fightin' like a mad buffalo with--" Here Roy
paused abruptly.

"Well, what were you fighting with?" asked Nell, with a smile that ended
in a yawn.

"I won't tell you just now, lass, as it might spoil your appetite for
breakfast. Set about getting that ready as fast as you can, for I want
to be off as soon as possible to visit my snares."

"I guess we shall have rabbits for dinner to-day."

"What are you going to do with the sled?" inquired Nelly, observing that
her brother was overhauling the lashings and drag-rope.

"Well, I set a lot o' snares, an' there's no sayin' how many rabbits may
have got into 'em. Besides, if the rabbits in them parts are
tender-hearted, a lot o' their relations may have died o' grief, so I
shall take the sled to fetch 'em all home!"

After breakfast Roy loaded his gun with ball, and putting on his
snow-shoes, sallied forth with an admonition to his sister to "have a
roarin' fire ready to cook a rare feast!"

Nelly laughingly replied, that she would, and so they parted.

The first part of Roy's journey that day led him through a
thickly-wooded part of