266 FUR FACTS 



Morning dawned grey and cold, with a drizzling rain, but we 

 determined to make the best of it. Packing our provisions and 

 equipment in the boats, and arranging ourselves as comfortably as 

 our limited space would allow, we started down the river. 



The weather during the day, continued to grow colder, the rain 

 turning to sleet, soon had us covered with a coat of ice. Indeed, the 

 weather became so bad that we were forced to make a landing about 

 four o'clock, having covered a distance of approximately eight miles. 



The sleet on the trees had now become so heavy that the limbs 

 were beginning to fall, and occasionally a tree would snap under the 

 strain and come crashing down to earth. We pitched our tent in a 

 place as far from the trees as possible, which, although it was beyond 

 the reach of the branches was still within the danger zone of the larger 

 trees. After supper we sat in silence for there was no use trying to 

 talk; the crashing of the trees and limbs, aided by the roar of high 

 water in a nearby creek, drowned out all other sounds. 



Shortly before dark we spied a hay stack on the opposite side of 

 the creek, which we were able to reach by means of a log which the 

 high waters had thrown across the stream near its mouth. We made 

 a small "dug-out" in the had stack and slept comfortably all night. 



The next morning we hay occasion to feel extremely thankful for 

 that hay stack, for a tree had smashed the ridge-pole of our tent. 



Although the weather was still cold and cloudy, with a chilly 

 wind from the northwest, the rain and sleet had ceased to fall, and 

 we decided to resume our journey. We pulled down the river to a 

 point past Clarksville and made a landing about five o'clock. Here we 

 sighted an old cabin near the upper end of King's Lake, which, being 

 devoid of inhabitants, we proceeded to occupy. Jack volunteered to 

 prepare supper, so uncle and I went out to explore the neighboring 

 territory. We found some pretty good mink signs, so we set a few 

 traps and returned to the cabin as it was fast growing dark. The 

 savory odor of good bacon greeted us when we opened the cabin door. 

 Jack then proceeded to "dish up" and after a hearty supper, he and 

 uncle related some of their previous hunting experiences. 



Early the next morning we visited our traps, finding that we 

 had captured three mink and two skunk. That was pretty good, 

 considering the small number of traps we had out, so we decided to 

 stay and put out all the traps we had. My uncle set most of the 

 traps, as he was accredited with being a "past master" in the trapping 

 art. 



