THACKER'S EXCURSIONS. 153 



be annoyed by their getting into my traps ; and once, at the 

 suggestion of a fur-dealer that their skins were worth fifty 

 cents apiece, undertook the job of saving a lot ; but after 

 skinning five, gave up the business in disgust. 



My next excursion was a short but rather exciting one. In 

 consequence of a slight thaw a day or two previous to my 

 setting out, the skating on the river was nearly spoiled. I 

 was therefore obliged to travel most of the way on land, 

 and on foot, taking nearly all day to get to my place of des- 

 tination. I put up for the night at a tavern a mile or two 

 from the part of the marsh where I intended to trap, which 

 was at the end opposite to the theatre of my previous excur- 

 sions, and near the Oplain River. The next morning, after 

 breakfast, I started out for the hunt, and, on arriving at the 

 marsh, to my surprise not a muskrat house could be seen, with 

 the exception of the very tops of three or four. The rest 

 were all under water and the water frozen over. At first 

 I was unable to divine the cause of this unusual rise in the 

 water; but subsequently ascertained that an ice-dam had 

 formed in the river three fourths of a mile below, in conse- 

 quence of the breaking up of the ice above, and had set the 

 water back over this part of the marsh to the depth of nearly 

 four feet. The muskrats were completely drowned out ; and 

 I now saw them huddled together in numerous squads upon 

 the newly-formed ice all over the marsh, having already 

 brought up portions of their submerged dwellings, with which 

 they had built up slight walls to shelter themselves from the 

 cold northwest wind. 



This was an exciting scene to the trapper a multitude 

 of his game in full view ! I became almost nervous with ex- 

 citement. But how to get at them was the question. On 

 going down to the water, I found it scarcely frozen along the 

 shore, though it looked firmer farther out. To be sure I 

 could reach many of the muskrats with my rifle ; but what 

 was the use, if I could not get them after I had killed them ? 

 However, something must be done. I could n't stand this 

 sight anyhow. I set about devising some plan by which I 

 might reach the game in person. A half dozen plans were 



