THE AMATEUR TRAPPERS. 



CHARLEY APOPKA. 



III. 



Early the next morning the trappers 

 arose, lunched, and then, putting a lot of 

 otter and coon traps in the little boat, they 

 followed suit with gun and rifle. At the 

 first turn of the stream up rose a pair of 

 mallards with a great clattering of wings. 

 "Bang, bang," said the gun, in the hands 

 of Uncle Snap, "Quack, quack," said the 

 ducks, and U. S. murmured about some- 

 thing connected with the production of 

 water power. About ioo yards farther, 2 

 rx>re big brown ducks arose from the lily- 

 pads, and again U. S. paid them his com- 

 pliments, without results, excepting that an 

 old blue heron flapped up from where he 

 had been fishing and flew off, squawking, 

 in an insulting manner. 



"Ding yore pelt !" said U. S., eying Mose 

 suspiciously. "I believe you've been play- 

 ing another of your confounded jokes, and 

 monkeyed with this ammunition, and us 

 with no fresh meat in camp, too." 



Mose crossed himself over the heart. 



"Hope to die in a minute if I have," he 

 said. "You just simply couldn't hit a flock 

 of bed quilts, much less ducks on the 

 wing." 



"Oh, well, 'Smart Elide',"-, said Uncle 

 Snap, "take the gun, and let's see what you 

 get." 



Mose relinquished the paddle to U. S., and, 

 assuming an easy, graceful posture in the 

 bow of the boat, with the gun in read- 

 iness, scanned the horizon of sawgrass for 

 ducks. In a moment, up went 2 fine ones, 

 and Mose, taking a swift yet careful aim, 

 let . go with the right hand barrel, then 

 with the left, but the ducks flew madly on. 

 U. S. laughed an irritating laugh. 



"Talk about hitting a flock of bed quilts," 

 said he, "why you couldn't shoot down a 

 stove pipe and hit the stove." 



"Oh, rats," said Mose, "this is nothing to 

 laugh at. There is a 'hoodoo' on us. We 

 have done some wicked deed, and it is a 

 judgment on us to see these big fat ducks 

 fly up in our faces, without being able to 

 get any. The only way to remove the 

 hoodoo is to do some good deed, as quickly 

 as possible." 



"For goodness sake, let's get busy about 

 the good deed," said U. S., "before any 

 more ducks get away." 



At that moment, the agonized yelp of a 

 frog, seized by a snake, sounded close at 

 hand. The opportunity was theirs. The 

 eyes of the A. T.'s met, and seizing the 

 paddles, they drove the boat's nose into the 

 grass and bushes whence had come the cry 



for help. A black snake had slipped up on 

 a big lazy frog, and seized him by what 

 would have been his coat tails, if he had 

 been properly dressed. The frog was kick- 

 ing desperately, in a hopeless effort to save 

 his life, and ever and anon, principally 

 anon, as "Samantha" says, his throat would 

 expand, and he would give his despairing 

 yell for assistance. It was only one of the 

 1,000 daily tragedies of the marsh, but this 

 one was nipped in the bud. A smart blow 

 of the paddle caused the snake to release 

 his victim and wriggle off in the grass, and 

 the frog went kerchug into the water. 



"Hurrah !" yelled Mose, "the hoodoo is 

 broken !" At the sound of his voice a big 

 mallard flew up near, and went whist- 

 ling overhead ; but U. S. grabbed the gun, 

 which had been laid aside, in the excite- 

 ment of the rescue, and squinting along the 

 barrels till they were in line with the flee- 

 ing duck, pulled both triggers, at the same 

 moment giving a vicious push with his 

 shoulder, "to make the shot strike harder," 

 he afterward explained, and down came the 

 duck in the mud. 



"I'm not a bit superstitious," said Mose, 

 as they retrieved their duck, "even if I do 

 like to see the new jnoon over my right 

 shoulder, and a few little things like that, 

 but I'll be switched if I don't believe help- 

 ing that frog made us lucky." 



"Gee, ain't he fat and heavy," said U. S., 

 as he picked the duck out of the edge of 

 the water. 



"Holy smoke/' said Mose, "look at the 

 otter sign." 



The duck had fallen within a few feet 

 of a trail made by otters in crossing from 

 the river to a slough, separated from it by 

 a low bank a few yards wide. The mud 

 was beaten down by their webbed feet, and 

 they had wallowed on the grass near. A 

 trap was set at the river end of the trail, 

 with the chain ring on a sliding pole, and 

 the spot where the trail entered the slough 

 was guarded by another trap, made fast to 

 a drag. Carefully obliterating their tracks, 

 and completing the set by sprinkling with 

 a bunch of dog fennel dipped in the river, 

 the trappers continued on their way, in 

 the course of the morning setting a dozen 

 more, where the signs were good, as well 

 af a few coon traps, which they baited with 

 scraps of fish hung on sticks and convenient 

 bushes. 



U. S. killed another duck, and they ar- 

 rived in camp at 3 o'clock, well satisfied 

 with their day's work. They had company, 

 in the person of an old redheaded buzzard, 



107 



