kinds, and most of them were successful.

They knew instinctively the quality of the furs that they
obtained. They could tell at a glance whether they were prime,
that is, thick and full, and as they cured them and baled them,
they classified them.

Constant application bred new ideas. In their pursuit of furs,
they found that they were not quite so sparing of the game as
they had been at first. Some of their scruples melted away.
Albert now recalled a device of trappers of which he had read.
This was the use of a substance generally called barkstone, which
they found to be of great help to them in the capture of that
animal.

The barkstone or castoreum, as it is commercially known, was
obtained principally from the beaver himself. The basis of it
was an acrid secretion with a musky odor of great power, found in
two glands just under the root of the beaver's tail. Each gland
was from one and one half to two inches in length. The boys cut
out these glands and squeezed the contents into an empty tin
can. This at first was of a yellowish-red color, but after a
while, when it dried, it became a light brown.

This substance formed the main ingredient of barkstone, and in
their medicine chest they found a part of the remainder. The
secretion was transferred to a bottle and the mixed with it
essence of peppermint and ground cinnamon. As Albert remembered
it, ground nutmeg also was needed, but as they had no nutmeg
they were compelled to take their chances without it. Then they
poured whisky on the compound until it looked like a paste.

Then the bottle was stopped up with the greatest care, and in
about a week, when they stole a sniff or two at it, they found
that the odor had increased ten or a dozen times in power.

They put eight or ten drops of the barkstone upon the bait for
the beaver, or somewhere near the trap, and, despite some defects
in the composition, it proved an extraordinary success. The
wariest beaver of all would be drawn by it, and their beaver
bales grew faster than any other.

Dick calculated one day that they had at least five thousand
dollars worth of furs, which seemed a great sum to both boys. It
certainly meant, at that time and in that region, a competence,
and it could be increased greatly.

"Of course," said Dick, "we'll have to think some day of the way
in which we must get these furs out, and for that we will need
horses or mules, but we won't bother our heads about it yet