A Novel Muskrat Hunt. 



For an hour or two the sport was lively, one crack follow- 

 ing another in quick succession, first from Steve's blind and 

 then from mine the shooting being about equally divided. 

 Then the wind began getting stronger and colder, the waves 

 livelier, the shooting more difficult, the game more wary and 

 our shots more scattering. No more rats being in sight, I 

 crawled down behind the blind, to get out of the raw wind. 

 My little partner looked up at me, enquiringly, and said : "Say, 

 Mister, I guess you never shot muskeys any before, 'cause you 

 don't shoot like Mr. C. over there. He don't shoot till the ice 

 cakes get into a quiet piece of water, so they won't wobble 

 then he gets his muskey most every time. My! but I tell you. 

 us boys make it lively for the muskeys while they are on 

 the Big Slough. They commence gathering rushes and build- 

 ing their houses as soon as they come up from the river and as 

 soon as they get their houses done we begin trapping them and 

 trap until the slough freezes over ; then we go after them with 

 spears." 



Here I interrupted the little man and enquired what he 

 meant by spearing muskrats. "Why, didn't you ever spear 

 muskeys? Well, I'll tell you, it's just lots of fun. When the 

 ice is thick enough to bear, we take our spears and an axe, and, 

 going to a likely-looking house, two of the boys with spears 

 stand nearby where they can watch in all directions, while the 

 other one pounds on the house with an axe to drive the 

 muskeys out. They swim along close under the ice and we 

 chugs the spear through the thin ice and pins 'em fast. Do you 

 see that cake coming down with two of 'em on?" Sure enough, 

 there they were two big fellows on one small cake and close 

 enough together to offer a chance for a double. At the crack 

 of my gun both rolled into the water ; but what was my sur- 

 prise when Steve rose in his blind and shouted across : "Say. 

 old man. what do you think of my double?" We had both 

 fired so close together that it had sounded like a single report. 



\Ve had a few more shots some of which we missed and 

 some of which were more successful ; but, at length, the rising 



[42] 



