THACKER'S EXCURSIONS. 155 



found it difficult to hit him ; and I also found, where the holes 

 were not a great way apart, that when I went to one hole the 

 rats would dive and swim to another. This would not do. I 

 must try another expedient ; and, returning to the shore, I 

 took from my knapsack a dozen steel-traps and a handful of 

 willow sticks, threw them on the ice, and then started back. 

 Picking up in my course as many traps and sticks as I could 

 carry without increasing my weight too much, I distributed 

 them around the holes. And now lively work commenced. 

 Taking a trap and stick in my hand, while under headway, I 

 set the trap, slipped the willow stick through the ring of the 

 chain, dropped it on the ice, placed the trap in the little 

 cuddy where the rats huddled together, and passed on to the 

 next, scarcely making a stop. This plan was a successful 

 one. Frequently, before I reached the next hole, a rat would 

 be caught in the trap I had just left, and, diving into the 

 water, would be brought up at the length of the chain by the 

 stick sliding across the hole, and in this condition would soon 

 drown himself. I now had as much business as I could attend 

 to, taking out the game, re-setting my dozen traps, carrying 

 the game to the land, &c. You may be sure I played back 

 and forth in a lively manner. I however discovered that the 

 ice became much weakened by passing over it several times. 

 Consequently I was under the necessity of moving to new 

 places occasionally, to avoid breaking through. In fact, I 

 found there was only a small part of the marsh where the ice 

 was sufficiently strong to hold me up at all ; and the weather, 

 moderating after the middle of the day, weakened the ice so 

 much that I fell through several times, getting my clothes 

 wet and boots full of water ; which so much increased my 

 weight that I was soon obliged to abandon the field altogether. 

 I had, however, by this time secured a good pile of rats, and, 

 on the whole, had had one of the most exciting day's sport I 

 ever enjoyed. 



The weather now continued to moderate, and there were 

 evident signs of the breaking up of winter, and the opening 

 of spring. In two or three days from this time, wild clucks 

 and geese began to gather about the marshes. I now began 



