THE OTTER SLIDE 113 



&quot; No ; that s too stupid for Frai^ois. Mus 

 kegs ! but he is clever. The thing must have 

 been done last night. He cut a hole in the ice 

 of my pond near the dam, then shoved a nice, 

 beautiful piece of Poplar, with a steel Trap at 

 tached, down into the water one end in the 

 mud, you know, and the other up in the ice. 

 Of course it froze solid there. First-Kit, that s 

 my eldest Son, saw it in the morning, and, think 

 ing one of our bread-sticks had got away, went 

 down to bring it back. Mind you, I didn t 

 know anything about this ; he is an ambitious 

 little Chap and wanted to do it all himself. Of 

 course the Poplar was fast he could n t budge 

 it ; so climbed up to cut it off at the ice, with the 

 result that he sprang the Trap and incidentally 

 lost a toe.&quot; 



&quot; It s great schooling for the Children, though, 

 is n t it ? &quot; remarked Black King, trying to put a 

 good face on affairs. 



&quot; It s mighty hard on their toes,&quot; whined 

 Beaver. &quot; Hope it wasn t his nippers forgot 

 to look into that.&quot; 



&quot; Nothing like bringing them up to take care 

 of themselves,&quot; declared Carcajou. &quot;All the 

 same, my Wood-chopper Friend, you just cut 

 off that stick and float it, with the Trap, to one 

 of your air-holes ; I 11 cache it for Fran9ois.&quot; 



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