THACKER'S EXCURSIONS. 157 



then return to camp. The next day we would overhaul and 

 re-set, if we found the game plenty enough to warrant it. 

 If not, we would take up the traps and make another stretch, 

 and so on. 



On returning several days subsequently to our old hunting- 

 grounds, we found the muskrats had somewhat recovered 

 from the fright we had given them by our sudden and terrible 

 onslaught, and had returned from the inaccessible parts of the 

 marsh to which they had fled for refuge, and we made several 

 more successful sets. 



The weather had now become mild, and the marshes liter- 

 ally swarmed with ducks, and geese, and other water-fowl. 

 Any one not familiar with this section of country can have 

 no idea of the immbers of water-fowl that gather about these 

 lakes and marshes in the spring and fall of the year. As we 

 moved about in our little boats among the tall reeds and flags 

 of the marsh, our fire-arms were always at hand, ready to 

 bring down a duck or a goose that happened to pass within 

 reach. We fared sumptuously every day. Our daily bill of 

 fare consisted of roast goose, roast duck, prairie chicken, plov- 

 er, pike, bass, cat-fish, bull-heads, &c., &c., together with 

 coffee, hard biscuit, butter, and occasionally a meal of duck 

 and goose eggs. This was what we called high living ; and 

 as we seldom found time for more than two meals a day, we 

 were prei)ared to dispatch them with a relish that no one but 

 a trapper can realize. 



E did not seem to enter into the business with as much 



enthusiasm as myself, and having a family in the city, fre- 

 quently found occasion to go home, and sometimes staid away 

 two or three days. This made the work not quite so pleasant 

 for me, as I enjoyed the sport much better when we were to- 

 gether. However, I got along very well ; and the croaking 

 of frogs, the peeping of lizards, quacking of ducks and geese, 

 crowing of prairie chickens, the loud cries of the great sand- 

 hill cranes, and the almost incessant howling and yelping of 

 prairie wolves, were all music to my ears. On the whole, I 

 enjoyed the situation exceedingly. 



One day as I was pushing my little boat along through the 



