36 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



SHOULD HESITATE TO KILL VARMINTS LIKE PACK 

 RATS. 



In due course of time I learned from the trapper 

 himself the reason of his strange forbearance. It 

 seems that the winter shut down on the moun- 

 tains and caught Jim the trapper short of a supply 

 of tobacco. There was a party of government 

 surveyors camped near him in the mountains who 

 kindly gave Jim a chew of tobacco whenever he 

 asked for it, but they refused to sell or give him 

 any considerable amount of the weed and would 

 not under any circumstances supply him for his 

 winter needs. The surveyors were many miles 

 from the trading post and only had enough for 

 their own use, and they did not expect to visit a 

 post before spring time. 



One day Jim was desperately hungry for a bite 

 of tobacco, but consoled himself with the thought 

 that as soon as he reached camp he could beg a 

 chew; but what was the trapper's dismay upon 

 arriving home to find that the topographical men 

 had departed during his absence, for parts un- 

 known. Several days had passed since the sur- 

 veyors had left, during which time Jim had 

 chewed the bark from numerous sticks of red wil- 

 low, but it failed to satisfy his cravings and he 

 was growing desperate. He had about made up 

 his mind to take the long solitary tramp necessary 

 to reach the trading post, but before doing so he 

 thought he would set some traps in the bed of a 

 stream. To protect his feet from the cold slush 



