TRAPPING AND BEE HUNTING. 



179 



before. Smoky remarked that he thought that the joke was on 

 him as much as anyone, and then explained that a bear had been in 

 the trap and he got out. 



He described the circumstances, and it was plain to be seen 

 that the guide or stepping stick had been placed a little too close to 

 the trap which had caused the bear to step his foot partly over on to 

 the jaw of the trap and had only been caught by the heel, which 

 was not sufficient to hold him, although Smoky said that the bear 

 had put up quite a fight before it had got' out. Smoky said that 

 when he came to where the trap was set and found it gone, he 

 thought he would have the biggest time of his life. A bear all by 

 himself, and when he found that the bear had got away, he felt 

 like throwing himself into the creek along with the trap. I told 

 Charley not to take the matter to heart so, for if he followed the 

 trap line and the trail very long that he would have many a slip 

 just at the time that he thought he had the game bagged. 



The next morning the fire was sweeping ovet the whole 

 country so we hustled around and pulled all of the traps that were 

 not setting in the water or that were not out of reach of the fire. 

 The fire put an end to trapping for everything but a few mink 

 along the stream. 



I. wish to speak of one of Smoky's dry remarks. Smoky is a 

 strong Republican. A few days after the Presidential election we 

 were going up a small draft to look after three or four traps that 

 I had set for fox. The first trap that we came to was undisturbed. 

 The second one was lying at the side of the brook all in a bunch, 

 chain and all. Plain to be seen that it had been dropped there by 

 human hands. As soon as I saw the trap I said, "Smoky, some 

 one has dropped that trap there." "There has been some animal 

 in it and it has gotten out, see, there is blood on the jaws." "Very 

 true, Smoky, there has been some animal in the trap, but human 

 hands took it out, for no animal leaves a trap, clog and all, lying 

 free in that way, with the trap chain slack in that way." It only 

 required a glance about to see that there had been a coon in the 

 trap and had been fast. Just up on the bank there lay the club 

 that they had used to kill the coon with. After giving my opinion 



