hole
in the ice; but at that late season the fish would not take a bait, and
although they kept several continually set, and "looked" them most
regularly and assiduously, not a "tail" was taken.

They were about to adopt the desperate expedient, now more difficult
than ever, of breaking their way through the ice, when, all at once, it
occurred to Norman, that, if they could not coax the fish to take a
bait, they might succeed better with a net, and capture them against
their will. This idea would have been plausible enough, had there been
a net; but there was no net on that islet, nor perhaps within an hundred
miles of it. The absence of a net might have been an obstacle to those
who are ever ready to despair; but such an obstacle never occurred to
our courageous boys. They had two _parchment_ skins of the caribou
which they had lately killed, and out of these Norman proposed to make a
net. He would soon do it, he said, if the others would set to work and
cut the deerskins into thongs fine enough for the purpose. Two of them,
therefore, Basil and Lucien, took out their knives, and went briskly to
work; while Francois assisted Norman in twining the thongs, and
afterwards held them, while the latter wove and knotted them into
meshes. In a few hours both the skins were cut into fine strips, and
worked up; and a net was produced nearly six yards in length by at least
two in width. It was rude enough, to be sure, but perhaps it would do
its work as well as if it had been twined out of silk. At all events,
it was soon to have a trial--for the moment it was finished the sinkers
were attached to it, and it was carried down to the edge of the water.

The three "Southerners" had never seen a net set under ice--for in their
country ice is an uncommon thing, and indeed never freezes of sufficient
thickness to carry the weight of a man. They were therefore very
curious to know how the thing was to be done. They could not conceive
how the net was to be stretched under the ice, in such a manner as to
catch the fish. Norman, however, knew all about it. He had seen the
Indians, and had set many a one himself. It was no new thing for him,
and he set about it at once.

He first crept out upon the ice to the distance of about twenty or
thirty yards from the shore. He proceeded cautiously, as the ice
creaked under him. Having arrived at the place where he intended to set
the net, he knelt down, and with his knife cut sever