236 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



timber, I came out upon its shore, and there I discovered two 

 men robbing one of my otter traps. One man was holding up 

 the otter by the tail and laughingly commenting on his gain, 

 while the other was resetting the trap beneath the ice. I raised 

 my gun and was about to fire, when it occurred to me that, 

 after all, a man's life was worth more than an otter's skin; so I 

 let them go, and left it to the Redcoats (Mounted Police) 

 to settle with them. I knew them both. They were half-breeds 

 from near Montreal, and were well learned in the ways of the 

 whites." 



But before setting out on our way — I forgot to tell you — we 

 cached our moose meat in a tree as was previously agreed upon 

 with old Granny, who, with the boys, was to come and take it 

 home; and in order to prevent wolverines from stealing or 

 spoiling the meat, the hunter wrapped round the trunk of the 

 tree an old bag to which were fastened many fish hooks, all 

 with their barbs pointing downward and ready to impale any 

 creature that tried to climb the tree. Needless to say, as that 

 tree stood alone, no wolverine touched that meat. 



That day we covered about twenty miles, and by the after- 

 noon of the second day we had arrived at the lake on the far 

 shore of which lived Oo-koo-hoo's sister, Ko-ko-hay — The 

 Perfect Woman — with her daughter and her son-in-law and 

 four granddaughters. As we drew near the camp we found the 

 women about a mile from shore fishing through the ice for 

 salmon trout. There were a number of holes — each of which 

 was marked by a spruce bough set upright in the snow — and 

 the fishing was being done with hook and fine. The hook 

 dangling below the ice about a third of the water's depth, 

 was held in position by a branch fine to which was attached 

 a suitable sinker. The trout they had caught ran from ten 

 to thirty pounds each — as near as I could judge — and as the 

 women had already gained a good haul, they loaded their catch 

 upon their sled and returned home with us. 



