90 BEAR STORIES 



would catch in the trees. Seeing that he could 

 not get rid of it in that manner he endeavored to 

 cross the river with it. It was an unlucky at- 

 tempt for both of us. The strong current car- 

 him down into the deep water, where the weight 

 of the trap held him down till he was drowned 

 and my bear trap lost. I had an idea from the 

 way he had acted that such was the case, but in 

 spite of all our dragging and poking around we 

 could not find it. The following spring when the 

 high waters came down, the trap was carried 

 down some distance and grounded near the end of 

 an island, where salmon were usually landed by 

 the anglers and one of the gaff men found it. The 

 decayed paw was still fast in it, but the carcass 

 had been carried away. I told this story to the 

 old Indian, "and now," I said, "I am selling 

 you the luckiest trap on earth, and only at cost 

 price. I was charging him twelve dollars, The 

 old man was delighted, and as he left I wished 

 him good luck again. On reaching his hunting 

 ground on a branch of the Manicouagan River 

 the old Indian set his trap. And then, a very 

 strange thing happened. On his first visit to 

 the trap he found two large male bears caught in 

 it, one by the hind paw and the other by the fore 

 paw. Both paws were well inside the trap and 

 gripped high. They had fought like devils to- 

 gether and were torn and bloody but still securely 

 held by the trap. ' 'Ka-mikamust" thought he 



