THE RARE FURS 305 



of the young, but for light fur on the under Up. The Indians say 

 that sakwasew the mink would sell his family for a fish, and as long 

 as fish lay among the stones, the trapper gathered his harvest of 

 fur : reddish mink that would be made into little neck ruffs and 

 collar pieces, reddish brown mink that would be sewed into costly 

 coats and cloaks, rare brownish black mink that would be put into 

 the beautiful flat scarf collars almost as costly as a full coat. And 

 so the mink-hunt went on merrily for the man till the midwinter 

 lull came at Christmas. For that year the mink-hunt was over. 



II 



Nekik the Otter 



Sakwasew was not the only fisher at the pool below the falls. 

 On one of those idle days when the trapper sat lazily by the river 

 side, a round head slightly sunburned from black to russet had 

 bobbed up to the surface of the water, peered sharply at the man 

 sitting so still, paddled little flipper-like feet about, then ducked 

 down again. Motionless as the mossed log under him sits the man ; 

 and in a moment up comes the little black head again, round as a 

 golf ball, about the size of a very large cat, followed by three other 

 little bobbing heads — a mother otter teaching her babies to dive 

 and swim and duck from the river surface to the burrows below 

 the water along the river bank. Perhaps the trapper has found a 

 dead fish along this very bank with only the choice portions of the 

 body eaten — a sure sign that nekik the otter, the little epicure 

 of the water world, has been fishing at this river. 



With a scarcely perceptible motion, the man turns his head 

 to watch the swimmers. Instantly, down they plunge, mother and 

 babies, to come to the surface again higher up-stream, evidently 

 working up-current like the beaver in spring for a glorious frolic 

 in the cold clear waters of the upper sources. At one place on the 

 sandy beach they all wade ashore. The man utters a slight "Hiss !" 

 Away they scamper, the foolish youngsters, landward instead of 



