TRAPPING AND HUNTING. 223 



there'll be trouble. Give him time to think, and ten to one 

 he'll take to his heels. Most animals have more confidence 

 in their legs than they have in their teeth and claws, and 

 they'll be very likely to use 'em, if you'll give 'em time to 

 consider. But if you find a painter, or a bear, takin' a nap 

 in your path, and don't want to have a clinch with him, 

 wake him up before you get right onto him, or he'll be very 

 likely to think he's cornered, and them animals have onplea- 

 sant ways with 'em when they're in that fix. 



" Wai, as I was sayin', Crop and I was over on St. Regis 

 Lake, layin' in a store of jerked venison, and trappin' mar- 

 tin, and mink, and muskrat, and huntin' wolves, and sich 

 other wild animals as came in our way. The scalp of a 

 wolf was good for fifteen dollars in them days, and a back- 

 load of furs was worth a heap of money. We had a line of 

 martin trags leadin' back to the hills, and over into a valley 

 beyond, where the animal was plenties than they were on our 

 side. In passin' along this line, we had to round the end of 

 a hill that terminated in a sharp point of rocks. In a deep 

 gully at its foot, a stream went surgin' over rapids; the bauk 

 on the side towards the hill was, may be, twenty feet high, 

 and a right up and down ledge. Above this ledge, and 

 between it and the rocky point, was a narrow path, only 

 three or four feet wide, that turned short around the end 

 of the MIL On the left hand was the ledge, and at the 

 bottom of it were broken rocks, and on the right was a 

 bluff point of rocks, that made up the end of the hill, 



