ithout splitting it along the belly--"casing" it, as
trappers call it. So carefully did he do his work that he did not make
the slightest cut around the eyes or ears or nostrils, and even brought
off the whiskers of the muzzle without disfiguring the skin in the
least.

Next he found a spreader, or tapering board, under the eaves of the
barabbara, and over this he stretched his fox-skin, inside out, setting
it away in the back part of the barabbara, where it would slowly dry
without being exposed to the fire.

"Well, he certainly is a trapper, all right," said John, admiringly.
"Now I believe we could do that sort of thing ourselves. I don't see any
reason why we shouldn't get a lot of foxes here, and maybe make some
money out of the skins some day."

Rob shook his head. "I don't think so," said he. "Even this skin,
although it is not yet rusty from the sunlight, is not perfectly prime,
as you can see by looking at the inside of the skin. A really prime skin
is white and clear, and you can see that this one is just a little blue
along the back. That isn't a good sign to me."

Rob's guess as to the fur soon proved to be correct. For four more
nights they watched their _klipsie_ trap without success. On the fifth
morning they found another dead fox in the trap, with the barbs through
his back. This, however, was only a "cross" fox, and his fur proved so
worn and rusty that Skookie scornfully refused to take off the hide.
That ended their fox-trapping, for Rob refused to allow any more foxes
to be killed. Skookie, apparently willing to go on with his work, or to
stop as they preferred, smilingly took up his _klipsie_, after he had
sprung the trap, detached the arm, and restored the separated parts to
their original hiding-places.

"Plenty times my peoples come here," he said, smiling.

"That means," said Jesse, "that some time or other, if we have luck, we
may be discovered here by his people, even if our own people never find
us."

"Yes," Rob added, "but I only hope that may be before winter comes and
leaves us unable to get out."

XXI

AN ALEUT GOOSE-HUNT

Although utterly remote from the ordinary haunts of man, our young
hunters found their new environment one free from monotony, after all.
The sea was never twice the same, and even the weather was capricious
enough to afford variety. As spring wore on the region seemed to teem
with wild life, whether on the earth, in the water, or the air. The
gul