ALONG FOUR-FOOTED TRAILS 



Joe said the paths were muskrat runways and 

 the little duck-like tracks were those of the musk- 

 rat. On closer examination he found they had 

 dug in under the pits and carried away several 

 bushels of our vegetables. Traps were set along 

 the runways near the vegetable pits that night, 

 and in the morning Joe had three good-sized 

 muskrats. The weather had been growing grad- 

 ually colder and colder until parts of the stream 

 and slough where the water was shallow were 

 frozen solid, while in deep water there were from 

 two to three feet of ice. There was a clear sweep 

 for the wind down the west side of the slough 

 from the river, so that the snow was swept away 

 nearly as fast as it fell, leaving a clear view of 

 the little brown huts of the muskrats which 

 stood from a foot to three feet above the icy 

 bottom. 



Joe said if I would help him sp.ear and trap 

 the muskrats he would give me the money he 

 procured for the skins. On an early December 

 morning, as Joe and I started for the slough, he 

 carried a two-pronged pitchfork for a spear and 

 a hatchet. I wore my fur cap, that mother and 

 Joe made for me from the rat he had killed in 

 [15*] 



