the middle of the afternoon
the trap was completed and set, ready for the bear's reception.

It looked, as we have said, like a little log cabin with a flat roof.
One end of the roof rested on the rear wall of the trap, while the
other was raised in the air, leaving an opening sufficiently large to
admit of the entrance of any bear that was likely to come that way.
The roof was held in this position by a stout lever, which rested
across the limb of a convenient tree. A rope led from the other end
of the lever, down through a hole in the roof, to the trigger, to
which the bait--an ear of corn--was attached. The bear was expected
to crawl through the opening and seize the ear of corn; and in so
doing, he would spring the trigger, release the lever and the roof
would fall down and fasten him in the pen. When all the finishing
touches had been put on, the boys leaned on their axes and admired
their work.

CHAPTER XI.

TRAPPING QUAILS.

"Now, I call that a pretty good job for a first attempt," said Don;
"and considering the work we have had to do, it hasn't taken us a
great while either. I wish I dare crawl in there and set it off, just
to be sure that it will work all right."

"But that wouldn't be a very bright proceeding," replied Bert. "We
could never get you out. You would be as securely confined as you
were when you were tied up in the potato-cellar."

Don was well aware of that fact. The roof was made of logs as heavy
as they could manage with their united strength, and there were other
logs placed upon it in such a position that when the roof fell, their
weight would assist in holding it down. All these precautions were
necessary, for a bear can exert tremendous strength if he once makes
up his mind to do it; and David had repeatedly declared that if they
should chance to capture an animal as large as the one that had been
killed on that very island years before, the pen would not prove half
strong enough to hold him. But it was quite strong enough to hold Don
if he got into it, and the only way his companions could have
released him would have been by cutting the roof in pieces with their
axes.

The work was all done now, and the boys were ready to start for home.
While Bert and David were gathering up the tools and stowing them
away in the canoe, Don scattered a few ears of corn around, so that
the bear would be sure to find them the next time he visited the
island, and threw a dozen or so more in