240

XVIII.--UNDER THE NORTH STAR--WHERE FOX AND ERMINE RUN 258

XIX.--WHAT THE TRAPPER STANDS FOR 275

APPENDIX 281

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
PAGE

WITH EYE AND EAR ALERT THE MAN PADDLES SILENTLY ON _Frontispiece_

INDIAN _VOYAGEURS_ "PACKING" OVER LONG _PORTAGE_ 30

TRADERS RUNNING A MACKINAW OR KEEL-BOAT DOWN THE RAPIDS 57

THE BUFFALO-HUNT 78

THEY DODGE THE COMING SWEEP OF THE UPLIFTED ARM 143

CARRYING GOODS OVER LONG _PORTAGE_ WITH THE OLD-FASHIONED
RED RIVER OX-CARTS 198

FORT MACPHERSON, THE MOST NORTHERLY POST OF THE
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY 228

TYPES OF FUR PRESSES 250

THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER

PART I

CHAPTER I

GAMESTERS OF THE WILDERNESS

Fearing nothing, stopping at nothing, knowing no law, ruling his
stronghold of the wilds like a despot, checkmating rivals with a
deviltry that beggars parallel, wassailing with a shamelessness that
might have put Rome's worst deeds to the blush,
fighting--fighting--fighting, always fighting with a courage that knew
no truce but victory, the American trapper must ever stand as a type of
the worst and the best in the militant heroes of mankind.

Each with an army at his back, Wolfe and Napoleon won victories that
upset the geography of earth. The fur traders never at any time exceeded
a few thousands in number, faced enemies unbacked by armies and sallied
out singly or in pairs; yet they won a continent that has bred a new
race.

Like John Colter,[1] whom Manuel Lisa met coming from the wilds a
hundred years ago, the trapper strapped a pack to his back, slung a
rifle over his shoulder, and, without any fanfare of trumpets, stepped
into the pathless shade of the great forests. Or else, like Williams of
the Arkansas, the trapper left the moorings of civilization in a canoe,
hunted at night, hid himself by day, evaded hostile Indians by sliding
down-stream with muffled paddles, slept in mid-current screened by the
branches of driftwood, and if a sudden halloo of marauders came from the
distance, cut the strap that held his craft