66 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



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along and see if I could hear anything from pard and the folks 

 at home and then I could tend the traps on my way back to camp. 



I was at the road shortly before the stage came along and 

 was surprised as well as delighted to see a neighbor boy by the 

 name of Frank Curtis aboard the stage as he had said he would 

 come over and stay a day or two with me in camp. Frank had 

 not been allowed to spend much time with a gun or traps, but like 

 most boys, he liked a gun. My mother died before I was eleven 

 years old and father allowed me to trap and hunt about as I liked. 



When we got down near the traps we set our packs down 

 I say we, for my folks had sent me a new supply of provisions 

 and went to look after the traps. The first one had a rabbit 

 leg in it and it was plain to be seen that some animal had eaten 

 the rabbit. We reset the trap and went on to the next trap which 

 was set in a little gorge or hollow. A few yards below the trap 

 two large trees had blown down across the little hollow. The 

 tree on the side farthest down the hill from the trap had broken 

 in two where it fell over the hollow and dropped down so that 

 it laid close to the ground while the tree on the upper side, the 

 side nearest the trap, lay a foot from the ground in the hollow. 



The trees were two or three feet apart right at the hollow but 

 were close together on one side. When we came to where the 

 trap had been set we found trap and drag gone and nothing in 

 sight. We soon discovered the animal which we supposed was a 

 coon, had gone down the ravine toward the two large trees that had 

 fallen across the hollow. We went to the logs and looked between 

 them. There we could see the clog but the animal was crowded 

 back under the logs so we could see but little of it. 



Frank said that he would get between the logs and poke the 

 coon out. I told him that he had better let me go, as I was afraid 

 that he would take a hold of the clog and pull the trap loose from 

 the coon's foot, but Frank grabbed a stick and jumped between 

 the logs. He had hardly struck the ground when he gave a fear- 

 ful yell and there was a spitting, snarling animal close at his heels. 

 He scrambled out from between the logs, as white as a sheet. I 

 then saw that it was a wildcat and a mad one. I cut a good stout 

 stick and while Frank stood on the bank with his gun, I poked 



