166 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



must get after that Fox. I've took a day off and Toi- 

 nette's brother here is lookiii' after my traps." 



"Isn't it a holiday every day up here in the woods?" 

 asked Nat, as they sat down and Toinette placed before 

 each a bowl of smoking bean soup with little squares of 

 fried bread bobbing about in it. 



" I reckon not I What made you think that, sonny ? 

 No holidays in winter for a man who tries to git a 

 livin' in the woods now'days. It's findiu' tracks and 

 settin' traps and gittin' the right bait ; then goin' 

 visitin' the traps to git yer property before a Fox or a 

 \Veasel helps hisself to it, or it spoils so the pelt is no 

 good. If it snows hard, yer traps gets buried and 

 sometimes froze in. Then there's the beasts to skin 

 and the skins to cure, and the charcoal pit to mind, and 

 the Avoodpile to keep well squared, and the fire to keep 

 burnin'. No, siree, winter's a busy time ! " 



Rabbit stew followed the soup, then a sort of pud- 

 ding made of wild apples and barberry jam sweetened 

 with molasses, which the boys thought delicious. 



" I cannot understand where you get so many pelts, 

 Nez," said J\Ir. Blake. " I thought this part of the 

 country was skinned out years ago." 



" It was, and there's nothin' here for folks who want 

 to get things by the lot ; such kind did what they could 

 to kill off the beasts. Now, I've read the signs here- 

 abouts, and I say to myself, 'you may take so many 

 (.'oons, and Minks, and Skunks, and Foxes every winter 

 and not kill them out,' and when I get jest that many 

 I stop and let 'em have fair play. I shall stop on 

 Coons this week, with a hundred good pelts to the 

 better ; but I'm not done with Foxes yet, there's too 



