238 THE FUR TRADE OF AMERICA 



trace of human presence but the trail of dimpling ripples in the 

 wake of the canoe. 



No talking, no whistling, not a sound to betray them. And 

 there were good reasons why these men did not wish their presence 

 known. One was Potts, the other John Colter. Both had been 

 with the Lewis and Clark exploring party of i8o4-'o5, when a 

 Blackfoot brave had been slain for horse-thieving by the first white 

 men to cross the Upper Missouri. Besides, the year before coming 

 to the Jefferson, Colter had been with the Missouri Company's 

 fur brigade under Manuel Lisa, and had gone to the Crows as an 

 emissary from the fur company. While with the Crows, a battle 

 had taken place against the Blackfeet, in which they suffered heavy 

 loss owing to Colter's prowess. That made the Blackfeet sworn 

 enemies to Colter. 



Turning off the Jefferson, the trappers headed their canoe up 

 a side stream, probably one of those marshy reaches where beavers 

 have formed a swamp by damming up the current of a sluggish 

 stream. Such quiet waters are favorite resorts for beaver and 

 mink and marten and pekan. Setting their traps only after night- 

 fall, the two men could not possibly have put out more than forty 

 or fifty. Thirty traps are a heavy day's work for one man. Six 

 prizes out of thirty are considered a wonderful run of luck; but 

 the empty traps must be examined as carefully as the successful 

 ones. Many that have been mauled, "scented" by a beaver scout 

 and left, must be replaced. Others must have fresh bait; others, 

 again, carried to better grounds where there are more game signs. 



Either this was a very lucky morning and the men were de- 

 tained taking fresh pelts, or it was a very unlucky morning and 

 the men had decided to trap farther upstream; for when the 

 mists began to rise, the hunters were still in their canoe. Leaving 

 the beaver meadow, they continued paddling upstream away from 

 the Jefferson. A more hidden watercourse they could hardly have 

 found. The swampy beaver-runs narrowed, the shores rose higher 

 and higher into rampart walls, and the dark-shadowed waters came 



