CHAPTER XXXI. 

 On the Trap and Trot Line in the South Fall of 1912. 



ELL, comrades of the trap line, as I see so many interest- 

 m & letters from trappers in the H-T-T, the best of all 

 sporting magazines, I will relate some of my experi- 

 ences in the South, season of 1912. During the latter 

 part of the winter and the greater part of the summer, my health 

 was so poor that I never again expected to be able to enjoy the 

 pleasures of the trap line. But as time passed and I was able to 

 get out into the fields and wander about, I became stronger from 

 day to day until in the last days of October, when the frost began 

 to crisp the air and the leaves on the trees on the hillsides became 

 a golden hue, it drove the trapping fever into me to such a degree 

 that I was unable to resist the temptation any longer. 



I took six or eight traps and went to the brush within sight of 

 the house. I was obliged to use a good, strong staff to climb the 

 hill with and could only take a few steps at a time, without stop- 

 ping to take my breath. But, boys, I found this sort of exercise 

 better for me than the doctor's medicine that I was taking. My 

 first night's catch was two fox. Miany of the readers of the 

 H-T-T will remember of seeing my picture with the two fox in 

 the December, 1912, number. The next two nights I got another 

 fox and three skunk and wife's pet cat. The cat business put it up 

 to me and I was compelled to lift my traps and take for other 

 fields. Had I been able to traverse the hills and woods of old 

 Potter County, I could have done far better than I did in the 

 South. 



My trapping fever had now reached such a high mark that I 

 could no longer stave it off and not being able to travel the hills 

 and streams of this section, hit my feet for Alabama, where I 

 could do the greater part of my work from a boat After reaching 



281 



