nd found others at frequent
intervals. What was remarkable, they found three minks, two ermines and
a fisher in traps on high, hilly forest land. I think the old Squire
once said that they took nineteen martens from the traps, of which there
were one hundred and two.

The boys soon found themselves loaded down with fur. Since they were to
have half of what they brought home, they did not like to leave
anything. So with an ever increasing burden on their backs they toiled
on from trap to trap. Before night each was carrying at least forty and
perhaps fifty pounds. They had brought thongs for tying the animals
together. Billy carried his bunch slung over the stock of the gun, which
he carried over his shoulder. His comrade carried his on a short pole. A
good many of the martens were still alive in the traps and had to be
knocked on the head; the blood from them dripped from the packs on the
snow behind.

Fifteen miles is a long tramp for boys of their age, and, since December
days are short, it is not astonishing that the afternoon had waned and
the sun set before they reached the birch-bark camp. From that place
they would have to descend Lurvey's Stream for two or three miles to
Lurvey's Mills, and then reach home by way of a wagon road. Dusk falls
rapidly in the woods. By the time they reached the camp they could
barely see the "blazes" on the tree trunks. They decided to kindle a
fire and remain at the camp till the next morning. Each began at once to
collect dry branches and bark from the white birch-trees that grew along
the stream.

It was not until then that Billy made a bad discovery. In those days
there were no matches; for kindling a fire pioneers depended on igniting
a little powder and tow in the pans of their flintlocks. But when Billy
unslung his pack of martens from the stock of the gun he found that the
thong had somehow loosened the flint in the lock and that it had dropped
out and was lost. Both boys were discouraged, for the night was chilly.
They crept inside the camp, which was barely large enough to hold two
persons. It was merely a boxlike structure only six feet square and five
feet high; sheets of bark from the large white birch-trees were tied
with small, flexible spruce roots to the frame, which was of light
poles. The door was a small square sheet of bark bound to a little frame
that would open and shut on curious wooden hinges. Though the camp was
frail, it kept off the wind and was slight