292 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



stake and everything that you will use in making the set. Then 

 you will again look carefully for that "dark object," and will pro- 

 ceed to make the set, provided that yourself is the only human 

 being in sight, stopping your work often to look about you. Do 

 not think that this caution is not necessary, for it sure is. The 

 writer had nine traps taken at one time within an hour after he 

 had been over the line. 



We went into our first camp, I think, on the 5th of November, 

 at a place called Blackwell's Pond or Blackwell's bottom, I am 

 not sure which. The first day after we got to camp, Mr. Ford 

 went out and put out a few traps, while I stayed in camp and fixed 

 up things. 



The next morning we went out to look over the ground a little 

 while. Mr. Ford went to the opposite side of the pond to set a 

 few more traps, and see parties who owned land along the pond, 

 for we found that the land had been posted "No Trespassing." 

 When "Mr. Ford came in that evening I think he brought in five 

 rats. We set nine traps that day and went south along the pond 

 to look over the grounds. 



The next morning we had one mink and one coon in the nine 

 traps. I think Mr. Ford brought in four rats and had one coon 

 foot. That evening Mr. Ford went home to raise his nets, and 

 when he came back he brought in two mink; I got two coon. 

 Mr. Ford went home again and made arrangements for a team 

 to come in and move us out to "pastures new." He also brought 

 another mink, and I believe that we got two or three coons that 

 night. I think we got nine rats, four mink and eight coons in 

 the three nights with about twenty traps. 



The land about this pond had been leased by Mr. Edmon 

 Toney, a wealthy young man living near the place. While Mr. 

 Toney is wealthy, he insists in indulging in the meek and lowly 

 occupation of the trapper. We know Mr. Toney to be a successful 

 trapper, for he caught, while we were in camp at that place, one 

 of the wealthiest and most beautiful young ladies in that section. 

 Mr. Toney is a reader of the H-T-T. 



Our next camp was on Little Indian creek, at the edge of a 



