216 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



wag his tail. I began to work Font's way and said, "has he gone 

 that way?" Pont gave me to understand that the fox had gone 

 that way and that he knew what was wanted. The trail soon left 

 the main hollow and took up a little draw. A little way up this 

 we found where the fox had been fast in some bushes but had 

 freed himself and he had left and gone up the hillside. Pont soon 

 began to get uneasy, and when I said, "hunt him out," away he 

 went, and in a few minutes I heard Pont give a long howl and I 

 knew that he had holed his game. When I came up to Pont 

 he was working at a hole in some shell rocks. I pulled away some 

 loose rocks and could see the fox, and we soon had him out and 

 Pont seemed more pleased over the hunt than I was. There was 

 scarcely a week that Pont did not help us out on the trap line. 



Not infrequently did Pont show me a coon den. I had some 

 difficulty in teaching Pont to let the porcupines alone, but after a 

 time he learned that they were not the kind of game that we wanted, 

 and he paid no more attention to them. 



I have had many different dogs on the trap line with me. I 

 can say that to any one who can understand "dog's language," has 

 a liking for a dog and has a reasonable amount of patience and 

 is willing to use it, will find a well trained dog of much benefit 

 on the trap line, and often a more genial companion than some 

 partners. But if one is so constituted that he must give his dog a 

 growl or a kick every time he comes in reach, and perhaps only 

 give his dog half enough to eat and cannot treat a dog as his 

 friend, then I say, leave the dog off the trap line. 



