ANTOINE GARDAPEE. 227 



hole, an' he go all-a day 'way off to nor'eas' lak he go 

 to-a Wiscons' Riv'. Nex' night I fin' hees hole, an' I 

 make fire an' sleep by heem. Mornin' I see it was all a 

 rock an' not hees deep hole in a groun' for to have to 

 smoke heem hout; so I pull some rock down and see 

 heem, an' he growl, an' I shoot. He was too much tire 

 to go on to fin' deepes' hole. I'll tole you, hees skeen 

 a'n't wort' much, but w'en I no getta heem we no do 

 more trap in dis part. Dat was good hunt. Wat you 

 say, hey?" 



That was a long story for Antoine, but he felt proud 

 that his enemy's hide was in his pack; for this wolverine, 

 sometimes called "glutton," seems to take delight in de- 

 stroying traps, or in befouling the bait if he does not care 

 to eat it, and the trapper who finds one on his range must 

 kill it or go elsewhere. It is very cunning and has great 

 strength a combination of bear and fox and is well 

 characterized by Antoine as "de ole dev'." The skin 

 has some value for robes and rugs, but to the trapper 

 whose line it has discovered its hide has a greater value 

 than any fur dealer would give for it a hundred times 

 more. 



When Antoine unrolled his pack he had a lot of skins, 

 mainly from one of my lines, which he had come down. 

 In the lot was a silver fox, the first I had ever seen, and 

 several pelts of the white weasel, which we call "ermine." 

 It was my turn next day, but as one of my lines had been 

 recently run by my partner the work was light, because 

 there were few traps to reset. 



In the morning I thought to make a quick run, and, 

 as there was only a couple of inches of snow on top of the 

 hard crust, I left my snowshoes in the cabin, but An- 

 toine called me back, saying: "I'll tole you, w'en I'll see 

 da ring on da moon las' night we go gat some snow 



