A POT-HUNTER'S DEFIANCE 6i 



round the barrel net. From the outside he cannot 

 reach the fish suspended within. At either end 

 of the barrel, however, as he crawls forward, he 

 gets nearer and nearer to the high-smelling dainty, 

 until, by the time he reaches the narrow opening, 

 he can almost touch it. He pushes his way 

 through the hole, tumbles into the barrel and 

 makes a good dinner on the odorous fish. 



When the turtle tries to get out, however, he 

 finds it a different matter. In entering, he had 

 pushed open the small entrance hole, thus drawn 

 taut, but once inside, the net fell slack. Now, the 

 hole is difiScult to find. Even if an unusually 

 clever turtle should find the hole, he could not get 

 out, for the slack net would give no purchase and 

 the clumsy claws would become entangled. 



Luck was with Shan that day. Instead of the 

 ordinary snapping turtle, he found a terrapin, 

 which, as the boy knew, is one of the dainties of the 

 world. Bull was particularly fond of terrapin 

 and the lad went on his way rejoicing. 



Even a terrapin could not take Shan's mind off 

 the question of birds' nests, and, as he made his 

 way out of the swamp, swinging the turtle by the 

 tail — it is the safest way to carry turtles, for they 

 have a vicious bite — he kept a sharp look-out to the 



