at when the billet of wood was
plucked from his grasp with such swiftness, and drawn instantly aloft,
Steve staggered, and might have fallen only that Obed clutched hold of
him.

"Wow! did you see that?" gasped Steve, staring upwards at the dangling
"dummy" as though he could easily imagine it a kicking, squirming human
figure. "And say, it worked as fine as silk, didn't it? Obed, you've
done yourself proud with this little game. If that thief ever gets a
foot in your slip-noose his goose will be cooked, that's as plain as
dirt."

He actually seemed to be very proud of the fact that he had acted as
master of ceremonies, and set the trap off so successfully. Nothing
would do but that Bandy-legs and Toby Jucklin in addition should be
given the same distinction; so twice more was the barrel rolled up the
slope, and on both occasions it worked to a charm.

"It seems to be next door to perfect, for a fact," asserted Max, upon
being appealed to for his opinion; but he did not seem to "hanker" after
trying it out on his own account.

Finally the weighted barrel was again pushed up to its appointed
position and held there with the stake. When the proper time came, it
would be easy for the inventor to arrange the slip-noose, and set the
trap.

"What, is there anything more to be shown?" asked Steve, when Obed asked
them to follow him a little further.

A few minutes later and they were gravely examining an odd arrangement
which consisted for the most part of a very heavy log. Steve looked it
over critically, and then ventured to give his opinion:

"Looks a whole lot like a deadfall trap, such as they use in most places
to get bears in," he went on to say.

Obed chuckled as though pleased at the answer to his look of inquiry.

"Just what it is built on the pattern of, Steve, if yuh want to know
it," he admitted. "The only difference is that in the regular deadfall
the log comes down and smashes the poor bear by its sheer weight. Now,
I've tried to rig _my_ trap up so it'll simply make a prisoner o' the
creeper. I'll show yuh just how it works. I've got a dummy here, too,
that I use to test things. Yuh see there's always just a little chance
it might go wrong; and I don't want to get caught, and made a prisoner,
with nobody around to let me loose."

With that he demonstrated his idea. The trap was sprung just as he meant
it should be, and if the dummy had really been a man, he would have
found himself caught tightly i