90 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



object; just as a domestic kitten would do, and so the fox would 

 set off the trap. 



THE LAST RESORT 



On my first trips into the forest, whenever I questioned 

 an Indian hunter as to the cause of this or that, the complete- 

 ness of his graphic explanation always puzzled me; for I could 

 not understand how it was that when he was not an eye- 

 witness, he knew all the details of the affair as well as though 

 the dead animal itself had told him the full story. Rut when I, 

 too, began to study Nature's book on woodcraft, it amazed me 

 no longer; for then I realized that to those who had studied 

 enough it was easy to read the drama of the forest; especially 

 in the winter, for then Nature never fails to record it, and 

 every story is always published just where it happens. Even 

 to those who have not taken the Indian degree in woodcraft, 

 it is not difficult to read in winter time the annals of animal 

 life in the forest, for then Nature describes with ample detail 

 many an interesting story. In winter time, too, even a blind 

 Indian can follow a trail of which a town-bred man with normal 

 sight could see no trace. 



If his steel traps fail, the Indian may resort to still another 

 method — the gun trap — regardless of the fact that this may 

 lessen the value of the animal's pelt. A gun, first carefully 

 cleaned and loaded with the exception of the cap, is placed in 

 a nearly horizontal position about two feet above the snow and 

 lashed securely to two posts; the barrel slanting downward to 

 a point about a foot in height and eight feet away. At that 

 precise spot the bait stick is so fixed that when the fox seizes the 

 bait, its head will be directly in line with the gun-barrel. Fas- 

 tened to the bait by one end will be a thong, the other end of 

 which will be attached to the trigger, and will discharge the gun 

 when the bait is seized. When all is in readiness, the cap is 



