hollow at the top of the stump was another 

 with its hidden jaws wide open, ready for Pe- 

 quam when he should come to pull down lioli ' (Jr/Ilt: 



the pole and carry off his prize. During the 

 night a light snow fell and covered up every 

 trace of our work. 



Two days later there was an interesting 

 story to read in the snow. Pequam had fol- 

 lowed the line till he came to the first steel 

 trap, and instantly he set about understand- 

 ing the new arrangement. A dozen times 

 he went about the pen, trying every crevice 

 with his nose and eyes. Then he came to 

 the entrance and very carefully scraped away 

 the snow till the harmless trap was bare. 

 He tried it, cautiously at first, with gentle 

 taps and jabs of his paw; then more and 

 more roughly, poking and jerking it about 

 at the end of its chain ; but no warning snap 

 followed and nothing happened to hurt him. 

 Whereupon he walked straight over the trap .. 

 and ate the generous bait that was waiting 

 for him. From here he loped on to the next 

 trap, which was not harmless, and, thinking 

 he understood such things, walked straight 



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