With Trapper Jim in the North Woods Part 20

"Been here ever since," replied the trapper.

"And you don't look weakly now, Uncle Jim."

"I should say not," laughed the other, as he stretched his muscular arms above his head. "The open air, free from all disease germs, such as abound in cities; the long tramps; the freedom from worries; and, above all, the plain food and regular hours built me up wonderfully. Perhaps, after all, I did the right thing, because I'd have been dead long ago if I remained among the city dwellers."

"And, how about the heartless girl--did you ever see her again, Uncle Jim?" asked Owen, with a boy's freedom of speech.

Again the trapper laughed and then sighed.

"I never saw her again, son," he replied. "Years later I heard she married but I couldn't tell you whether his name was Smith or Brown. Then came the news that Susie had died, leaving one child. Sometimes I'm seized with a sort of yearning to look that boy up, and perhaps do something for him, just because I cared for his mother. But I never have, because before I get started it begins to look foolish to me."

The old man had a tear in his eye. And both Owen and Max felt drawn to him more than ever.

"Thank you ever so much, Uncle Jim, for telling us all this," Owen said, in a soft tone that caused the trapper to look fondly at him as he went on:

"Well, I've spoken to you boys about things that Have been lying deep down in my old heart buried for many a year. But just forget it. And let's see what Luck has got in store for us to-day. I'm going to get out a couple of my special fox traps."

Something about the way he said this as well as the eager flash that shot athwart his rugged face caused Max to cry out:

"Fox traps! You've got some reason for saying that, Uncle Jim."

"Maybe I have, son," remarked the trapper, smiling more broadly at this evidence of astuteness on the part of the boy.

"Is it the silver fox?" demanded Max.

"Well, I thought I had just a glimpse of the little darling yesterday when out with the boys," observed Trapper Jim.

"But you didn't mention it before now--I didn't hear any of them say a word about it," Max went on.

"That's right. I thought I'd keep it quiet. But what's the use when such sharp eyes keep tabs on every move I make. Besides, you two might like to watch how I set a trap to catch a fox. Because they're about as smart as any animal that walks on four legs."

Soon afterward the boys started out with the trapper. Steve, feeling his lame shoulder, concluded to rest up for a day, while Bandy-legs confessed that he much preferred doing a number of things about the cabin, perhaps catching a few pickerel in the little pond not far away, as Trapper Jim kept a supply of live minnows on hand to be used as bait when fishing with "tip-ups" through the ice later on.

So Max, Owen, and Toby saw how the two traps were set for the black fox, whose pelt is the one known as silver fox, and by long odds the most prized of all furs, sometimes one fine skin fetching thousands of dollars.

They found another mink caught, besides a number of muskrats. And in the last trap was a beautiful silky otter. Trapper Jim seemed highly pleased when he looked at his various prizes for the day.

"Seems like you boys must have brought me good luck," he declared.

"I hope we have," laughed Owen.

"I never hit such a nice mess before so early in the season," continued the trapper, "and it wouldn't surprise me a great deal now if I caught that splendid silver first shot out of the box."

"S-s-say, wouldn't that j-j-just be g-g-great," said Toby.

"Well, the traps are set and it's been pretty nigh a morning's work, because there's so much to do about trapping a smart fox. But, boys, let's hope that to-morrow or some other day it'll all be paid back, and I'll be able to show you what a beautiful skin the black fox sports."

"But you've taken them before, you said, Uncle Jim," Owen observed.

"Sure, two or three times, and pretty good ones at that," replied the trapper, with a chuckle. "But you know, it's always the same old story in this business."

"What's that?" asked Max.

"The skins you've captured in the past never compare with those you see on the backs of live animals. The best is always to come, eh, Max?"

"J-j-just like it is in f-f-fishing," declared Toby. "The big one in the w-w-water b-b-beats the one you've l-l-landed. I used to think the w-w-water just m-m-magnified 'em."

"No, it's the hope we have. Possession dulls the interest. You boys know that the apples next door always taste better than those you have in your own orchard."

The three whom Trapper Jim addressed just looked at each other and laughed. n.o.body answered him. There was really no need of words. Jim knew boys from the ground up, and loved them, too. He had once been a boy himself.

On the way back home he told them many interesting things connected with the shrewdness of mink and otter, and how smart the trapper had to be to outwit them.

"That's one of the pleasures of the business," he went on to say; "this continual matching of a man's wits against the instinct and cunning of these same clever little varmints. Why, a single old mink has kept me guessing pretty much all winter and changing my methods a dozen times."

"But I reckon you got him in the end, Uncle Jim," said Max.

"What makes you believe that, son?"

"Oh, because you never give up once you've set your mind on a thing,"

replied the boy, admiringly.

"Well, I don't knuckle down _very_ often, that's a fact," chuckled the trapper; "though there have been occasions. That girl episode was one, you remember, Max."

"But you got the sly old mink, didn't you?" persisted Owen.

"Yes, I got him when I had just about exhausted every scheme I could think up," answered the trapper; "and let me tell you, boys, that day when I carried him to the cabin I felt as big as the President of the United States."

Another night of comfort followed. Trapper Jim said it began to feel real lonely, now that the bold bobcat no longer came prowling around trying to steal things.

But the boys enjoyed having a good rest undisturbed by any sudden clamor.

This time only Max and Steve accompanied the trapper. Owen found that he had wrenched his ankle, and had better take a day off, and Toby had arranged to try the pickerel with Bandy-legs, who had caught a few on the previous day.

Steve had heard about the traps set for the "silver," and he wanted to be along if there was anything doing.

When they arrived near the first trap it was untouched. But the second they found sprung and empty.

"Oh, he was caught and broke away. It's too bad!" cried Steve, pointing to traces of blood and some shining black hairs on the jaws of the Victor trap.

But Trapper Jim was saying angry words to himself.

"Caught the finest silver I ever set eyes on only to have him s.n.a.t.c.hed by a sneak of a pelt thief!" and he pointed as he spoke to the imprint of a shoe in the soil.

CHAPTER XIV.