FUR FACTS 289 



Last of all, I took some weeds and made a brush and walked 

 backwards, brushing out my tracks until I was entirely off the bar. 



There was one sly old fox, however, whose antics completely 

 baflBed me. He would come within three or four feet of my trap 

 and then scamper away in the opposite direction. I saw that I must 

 devise a different scheme if I would land him, so I made use of a 

 box trap which a friend of mine recommended to me. There was a 

 farm house within a mile of where I was camping so I bought a chicken 

 from him to use in conjunction with the trap, in the following manner. 



The trap was of the common box variety, with a wire partition 

 about four inches from the back end. On the back end of the trap 

 I put a wire door that could be opened and closed. I then took the 

 trap to the den to which I had traced the fox in question and I then 

 put the chicken (still alive) in the back part of the trap. The noise 

 of the chicken attracted the attention of the fox, and he, being natur- 

 ally very curious, entered the trap to see what was going on. 



I not only caught the sly fellow who had so carefully avoided my 

 steel traps, but I caught three others in the same manner. Then the 

 chicken died and I went back to my old method. 



One morning as I was rowing along the river I saw a man standing 

 on the bank, waving his hat and going through all sorts of contortions 

 in an effort to attract my attention. I pulled up to the shore and was 

 surprised when he, a total stranger, spoke to me and called me by 

 name. He was tall and raw boned. He said his name was Hen- 

 derly and that he was just planning on a trip to the Gulf in 

 search of some desirable land, and having heard of me, he thought I 

 would be the logical fellow to take along for company. 



The opportunity struck me at once as being highly desirable, but 

 as I had never seen the man before to my knowledge, it occurred 

 to me that I had better think the matter over. I told him I would 

 tell him within three days whether or not I could go, to which he 

 readily assented. During these few days I made inquiry at a number 

 of farm houses, but they seemed to know very little about him, 

 except that he was a land dealer and trader. 



As I thought the proposition over, however, I felt the most intense 

 desire to make the trip, so when I saw him the following day I told 

 him I had decided to go. He appeared greatly pleased and said that 

 he was quite sure I would enjoy the trip very much. He invited me 

 to come over to his house and spend the night with him, saying that 

 we would start the following morning. 



