reads of flesh with my beaver knife, I hewed
out some sweet birch splinters and tied the limb tight with moose wood
bark from his ankle to his thigh. In three months he was able to walk
and after six months he was trapping as usual. While Thorn was layed up
I had a double dose of work to do and grew a little careless, so mush so
that something happened which never happened before--I was cleaning my
gun and rooled it over on my knee. I had forgotten to remove the loads
and off she went tearing a big hole in our camp. I had had a great deal
of trouble in my life teaching my men to always be careful about
accidents. This same thing had happened severl times to the other
fellows but never to me before. Most all old trappers and hunters get
into trouble of their own, sooner or later because of carelessness. I
never cover up a trap with my hand. I found a trapper starved to death,
caught in his own bear trap by both hands; because he was in the habit
of covering up his traps by hand. I always school the lads to cover
every trap with a stick. It is better because the animal can smell hand
marks readily.

After the accident of my gun explosion in camp I went out to look at A
trap I had set for a wolverine. I came to the spot and found the chain
broken and the trap gone, I began brushing away the snow supposing he
had dodged into a hole near by, the trap was set at the root of a tree
Suddenly I heard a growl and down from the limb leaped the darn skunk
upon my left shoulder while the trap struck me fair in the face, I did
some tall scrambling shook him off and empied my revolver in his skin.
My shoulder was very sore for three months so we had two cripples at
once. The next streak of ill luck, another of the gang got lazy and
would not wash well in cold water and contracted cold and then
Pneumonia--this layed him off for nearly three weeks. Our catch this
winter was Wolverine, Lynx, Marten, Ermine, a few Beaver and Otter. but
my Marten were of all more valuable.

I was engaged the next summer in Colorado by a ranchman to trap Mountain
Lion. The Mountain Lion is a specie of the Eastern Panther they weigh
from 80 to 150 lbs. Their color in winter is a steel grey and in summer
is a greyish brown. Their food is rabbit and grouse. Their haunts are
the Rocky mountains. Their hides are used for rugs and robes and worth
from 5-to 15 dollars. They also feed on calves and colts. are very hard
on a Horse Ranch-Man. They often attack men,