people follow such an occupation, else what would all our
lovely girls do for wraps? After all, the taking of furs does not
compare in cruelty with the shooting of herons and other birds by the
tens of thousands, just to pluck an egret or plume and toss the body
away. That is a cruel deed that ought to make every woman blush who ever
wears an egret on her hat or bonnet. But what you've been telling us is
mighty interesting, do you know? I am determined to learn all I can
about this strange business while here on the spot. Nothing like getting
things at first hand. Are other animals taken in the same way?"

"To some extent. Whenever it is a water animal they are drowned when
caught. Even beaver have to be treated that way."

"But these animals live under the water, don't they? Then how can they
be so easily drowned?" asked Cuthbert; but immediately adding: "Of
course, I know they have to come to the surface at stated intervals to
breathe. I suppose the trap holds them down beyond their allotted time,
and then they suffer, just as a fellow might after a minute had passed.
Now, foxes are caught on the land--are they ever know to gnaw their foot
off to get free?"

"Oh, yes. Trappers look more closely to their fox traps, you see, for
they are always hoping to catch a silver, and that means a fortune,"
said Owen.

"I suppose by that you mean a silver or black fox. I have heard they
were worth a big sum of money, and quite rare. What do the pelts bring
as a usual thing?" asked Cuthbert.

"I believe as high as two thousand dollars for one fur, but that must
have been a mighty fine one. I knew one man who received eight hundred,
and I suppose the fur trader who bought it from him sold it again for a
thousand anyway. Some men have been lucky enough to take several silvers
during the whole of their trapping lives, while others have waited for
forty years and never caught a single one. But every fur gatherer lives
in hopes, even the Crees and Ojibwas indulging in these anticipations
that may never be realized. It is the highest priced skin to be found
ashore. A sea-otter may bring more, but I doubt it."

"You've seen the pelts then?" asked Eli, whose eyes were sticking out at
this intelligence, for it seemed to him just then that a brisk trade in
silver foxes was even more to be desired than a copper mine.

"Oh, yes, often, at a post where they were brought in. Some are only
seconds or thirds and worth far less than a first