TRAPPING UP LITTLE OTTER 171 



and we could not see anywhere from the water a 

 place at all to our liking. We found promising 

 places for a few traps, and having set them became 

 aware that it was time to search in earnest for a 

 night's lodging. The sawyer gave us a flat refusal 

 when we asked for a chance to spread our buffalo 

 skins on the kitchen floor. Evidently he did not 

 look kindly upon our invasion of his domain, 

 though we had been told that no one trapped here 

 and the rats were going to waste, dying of old age. 

 However, he afterward came to be on trading 

 terms, furnishing us with some articles that we 

 found ourselves in need of. Among them I re- 

 member some dip candles which were the most re- 

 markable triumphs of the chandler's art we had 

 ever seen. We called them self-supporting wicks, 

 for it was a marvel how a limp, loosely twisted 

 cotton cord could stand with such a thin casing of 

 tallow. But they fitted our kind of sconce — a 

 split stick — much better than larger ones would 

 have done. We were making up our minds to be 

 thankful for tramps' quarters if we could find a 

 hospitable haymow; but just then we fell in with a 

 cousin of By's, whose family lived in the neighbor- 

 hood, and having heard of our presence there had 

 sent him in search of us to invite us home. It was 

 all right for By to accept the proffered hospitality 

 of his relatives, but Joe and I were strangers, and 

 it was rather awkward to crowd ourselves in. But 



