THE FRENCH TRAPPER 59 



As he spoke, a voice struck up one of those chansons 

 populaires, which have been sung by every generation 

 of voyageurs since Frenchmen came to America, A La 

 Claire Fontaine., a song which the French trappers 

 ancestors brought from Normandy hundreds of years 

 ago, about the fickle lady and the faded roses and the 

 vain regrets. Then was it possible? these grizzled 

 fellows, dressed in tinkers tatters, were singing 

 what? A song of the Grand Monarque which has led 

 armies to battle, but not a song which one would ex 

 pect to hear in northern wilds 



&quot; Malbrouck s on va-t-en guerre 

 Mais quand reviendra a-t-il ? &quot; 



Three foes assailed the trapper alone in the wilds. 

 The first danger was from the wolf-pack. The sec 

 ond was the Indian hostile egged on by rival traders. 

 This danger the French trapper minimized by identi 

 fying himself more completely with the savage than 

 any other fur trader succeeded in doing. The third 

 foe was the most perverse and persevering thief known 

 outside the range of human criminals. 



Perhaps the day after the trapper had shot his 

 first deer he discovered fine footprints like a child s 

 hand on the snow around the carcass. He recognises 

 the trail of otter or pekan or mink. It would be 

 useless to bait a deadfall with meat when an unpolluted 

 feast lies on the snow. The man takes one of his small 

 traps and places it across the line of approach. This 

 trap is buried beneath snow or brush. Every trace of 

 man-smell is obliterated. The fresh hide of a deer 

 may be dragged across the snow. Pomatum or casto- 

 reum may be daubed on everything touched. He may 



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