80 ‘ PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
whose warning I doubt not, unless she had been unusually 
pretty, would have been disregarded. Soon the walking 
became climbing, and after an hour’s clambering the sum- 
mit of the ridge was reached. Here the first trap was lift- 
ed; and at intervals of two hundred yards or so, according 
to the nature of the ground, the others were found distrib- 
uted. As they had been down for nearly two months, 
whatever had been captured by them was now in a de- 
composed state. Soon the whole (over a dozen) had been 
gathered, when we descended to a stream literally alive 
with fish ; trout of all sizes up to a pound appeared to be 
actually crowding each other; and so unacquainted were 
they with man’s presence that they totally disregarded our 
intrusion. 
Lunch-time had arrived, and on the margin of the brook 
we enjoyed our meal; several of the trout, which my com- 
panion had captured with the most primitive line, attached 
to a rod cut from the nearest tree, forming no inconsider- 
able portion of the meal. 
After a smoke and half-hour’s dawdle, we started on our 
return, following an entirely different route, equally disad- 
vantageous for rapid progression. During our homeward 
tramp I learned that martens could only be taken on the 
highest ridges, and that the bait used was either a red 
squirrel, the beautiful little cedar bird, or the heart or liv- 
er of the swamp-hare. I was not a little surprised at the 
number of times my companion halted to inquire if my gun 
was all right, more especially as so far we had seen no in- 
dications of large game, excepting some decayed stumps 
and logs, moved where Bruin had been grubbing, or scratch- 
ed trees, where his race from time immemorial had been in 
the habit of stretching themselves. 
As the sun set, we once more regained the path, well 
fatigued with our rough and protracted tramp, myself not 
