as a little
tired and homesick, so I did not say much to him, but after a little
I said, "Charley, did you get anything in the trap?" He answered very
short, saying, "If I had you would be likely to see something of it,
wouldn't you?" so I said no more.

After supper was over and the dishes washed, Smoky took a piece of
paper from his pocket and handed it to me with the remark, "What do
you know about that?" I unfolded the paper and found that it
contained a lock of bear's hair. I said, "Smoky, what is it? Another
one of your jokes?" I thought that Smoky had taken the hair from the
bear that we had caught two days before. Smoky remarked that he
thought that the joke was on him as much as anyone, and then
explained that a bear had been in the trap and he got out.

He described the circumstances, and it was plain to be seen that the
guide or stepping stick had been placed a little too close to the
trap which had caused the bear to step his foot partly over on to the
jaw of the trap and had only been caught by the heel, which was not
sufficient to hold him, although Smoky said that the bear had put up
quite a fight before it had got out. Smoky said that when he came to
where the trap was set and found it gone, he thought he would have
the biggest time of his life. A bear all by himself, and when he
found that the bear had got away, he felt like throwing himself into
the creek along with the trap. I told Charley not to take the matter
to heart so, for if he followed the trap line and the trail very long
that he would have many a slip just at the time that he thought he
had the game bagged.

The next morning the fire was sweeping over the whole country so we
hustled around and pulled all of the traps that were not setting in
the water or that were not out of reach of the fire. The fire put an
end to trapping for everything but a few mink along the stream.

I wish to speak of one of Smoky's dry remarks. Smoky is a strong
Republican. A few days after the Presidential election we were going
up a small draft to look after three or four traps that I had set for
fox. The first trap that we came to was undisturbed. The second one
was lying at the side of the brook all in a bunch, chain and all.
Plain to be seen that it had been dropped there by human hands. As
soon as I saw the trap I said, "Smoky, some one has dropped that trap
there." "There has been some animal in it and it has gotten out, see,
there is blood on the jaws."