heir clemency. The jaws of these
resembled the jaws of an old woman to whom time has left nothing but
gums. There were also the intermediate or half-toothed sorts,
probably devised by the middle-natured squires, or those under the
influence of their wives: two inches of mercy, two inches of cruelty,
two inches of mere nip, two inches of probe, and so on, through the
whole extent of the jaws. There were also, as a class apart, the
bruisers, which did not lacerate the flesh, but only crushed the bone.

The sight of one of these gins when set produced a vivid impression
that it was endowed with life. It exhibited the combined aspects of a
shark, a crocodile, and a scorpion. Each tooth was in the form of a
tapering spine, two and a quarter inches long, which, when the jaws
were closed, stood in alternation from this side and from that. When
they were open, the two halves formed a complete circle between two and
three feet in diameter, the plate or treading-place in the midst being
about a foot square, while from beneath extended in opposite directions
the soul of the apparatus, the pair of springs, each one being of a
stiffness to render necessary a lever or the whole weight of the body
when forcing it down.

There were men at this time still living at Hintock who remembered when
the gin and others like it were in use. Tim Tangs's great-uncle had
endured a night of six hours in this very trap, which lamed him for
life. Once a keeper of Hintock woods set it on the track of a poacher,
and afterwards, coming back that way, forgetful of what he had done,
walked into it himself. The wound brought on lockjaw, of which he
died. This event occurred during the thirties, and by the year 1840
the use of such implements was well-nigh discontinued in the
neighborhood. But being made entirely of iron, they by no means
disappeared, and in almost every village one could be found in some
nook or corner as readily as this was found by Tim. It had, indeed,
been a fearful amusement of Tim and other Hintock lads--especially
those who had a dim sense of becoming renowned poachers when they
reached their prime--to drag out this trap from its hiding, set it, and
throw it with billets of wood, which were penetrated by the teeth to
the depth of near an inch.

As soon as he had examined the trap, and found that the hinges and
springs were still perfect, he shouldered it without more ado, and
returned with his burden to his own garden,