80 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



whose warning I doubt not, unless she had been unusually 

 pretty, would have been disregarded. Soon the walking 

 became climbing, and after an hour's clambering the sum- 

 mit of the ridge was reached. Here the first trap was lift- 

 ed ; and at intervals of two hundred yards or so, according 

 to the nature of the ground, the others were found distrib- 

 uted. As they had been down for nearly two months, 

 whatever had been captured by them was now in a de- 

 composed state. Soon the whole (over a dozen) had been 

 gathered, when we descended to a stream literally alive 

 with fish ; trout of all sizes up to a pound appeared to be 

 actually crowding each other; and so unacquainted were 

 they with man's presence that they totally disregarded our 

 intrusion. 



Lunch4ime had arrived, and on the margin of the brook 

 we enjoyed our meal ; several of the trout, which my com- 

 panion had captured with the most primitive line, attached 

 to. a rod cut from the nearest tree, forming no inconsider- 

 able portion of the meal. 



After a smoke and half-hour's dawdle, we started on our 

 return, following an entirely different route, equally disad- 

 vantageous for rapid progression. During our homeward 

 tramp I learned that martens could only be taken on the 

 highest ridges, and that the bait used was either a red 

 squirrel, the beautiful little cedar bird, or the heart or liv- 

 er of the swamp-hare. I was not a little surprised at the 

 number of times my companion halted to inquire if my gun 

 was all right, more especially as so far we had seen no in- 

 dications of large game, excepting some decayed stumps 

 and logs, moved where Bruin had been grubbing, or scratch- 

 ed trees, where his race from time immemorial had been in 

 the habit of stretching themselves. 



As the sun set, we once more regained the path, well 

 fatigued with our rough and protracted tramp, myself not 



