l8o FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



of the gentleman that had taken the coon, I began to reset the trap 

 again where it was before. 



Smoky objected to again setting the trap there only for some 

 one else to get the game again, but I told Smoky that lightning 

 rarely struck twice in the same place so we would set the trap 

 again. \v e started up the hollow and were soon discussing politics 

 again until -we came to where the next trap was setting. Just 

 before we came to the trap, Smoky picked up an empty cartridge 

 shell. A few yards farther on lay the second trap which had had 

 a fox in it, as was plain to be seen by the tooth marks on the 

 small brush and by the fur on the trap. That the fox had been 

 shot was evident by the amount of fur that was lying on the 

 ground where the animal had been caught. 



This was more than I could stand without giving vent to my 

 feelings. After trying for some time to find words to give the 

 case justice, and failing, Smoky remarked with all the coolness 

 imaginable, that there was one thing certain about it, that it was a 

 Democrat that took the fox and coon. I was astonished at the 

 remark and asked what he meant. "Well, if it had been a 

 Republican that had taken them, he would have taken the traps, 

 too." 



We were now getting our trap line down to a few traps along 

 the main creek, and we now worked those traps to the best of our 

 skill, as we wished to get our share of the mink. We had not put 

 out any mink traps until the first of November. The weather 

 had been very dry and warm but as it had now turned cold and I 

 found that I could not stand the cold as I once could, I told 

 Smoky that we would take what mink pelts we could get in a 

 few days and pull stakes. Smoky replied that that sort of "chin 

 music" suited him. So after ten or twelve days of mink trapping 

 we pulled the rest of the traps and went home, having to my idea a 

 pleasant time. 



Smoky agreed that the time was all right but he thought 

 that the society was a little slow for him, saying that if it had 

 not been for the boys on the coon hunt we would not have seen a 

 half dozen persons since we had been in camp. We had not 

 made a large catch of furs but I thought that we had done fairly 



