he best way is not to take them off at all. If we
keep on scraping and salting we'll keep our heads, all right."

"How about the hides?" asked John, somewhat anxiously.

"Well, sheep hides were never very much valued among our people,"
replied Alex. "In the mountain tribes below here the women used to
make very white, soft leather for their dresses out of sheep hides.
The hair is coarse and brittle, however, and although it will do for a
little while as a bed, I'm afraid you young gentlemen will throw away
the hides when you finish the trip."

"Well, all right," said John. "We won't throw them away just yet.
Let's spread them out and tan them. What's the best way to do that?"

"The Injuns always stake out a hide, on the ground or on a frame,
flesh side up," said Alex. "Then they take one of their little
scrapers and pare all the meat off. That's the main thing, and that is
the slowest work. When you get down to the real hide, it soon dries
out and doesn't spoil. You can tan a light hide with softsoap, or salt
and alum. Indeed, the Injuns had nothing of that sort in their
tanning--they'd scrape a hide and dry it, then spread some brains on
it, work in the brains and dry it and rub it, and last of all, smoke
it. In that way they got their hides very soft, and after they were
smoked they would always work soft in case they got wet, which isn't
the case with white man's leather, which is tanned by means of acids
and things of that kind."

"I have tanned little squirrel hides, and ground-hog hides, and
wildcat skins," said Rob, "many a time. It isn't any trouble if you
once get the meat all scraped off. That seems to be what spoils a
hide."

"In keeping all our valuable furs," said Alex, "we never touch them
with salt or alum. We just stretch them flesh side out, and let them
dry in the shade, not close to a fire. This keeps the life all in the
fur. Alum makes the hair brittle and takes away the luster. For a big
bear hide, if I were far back in the mountains, I would put lots of
salt on it and fold it up, and let it stay away for a day. Then I
would unroll it and drain it off, and salt it all over again; tamp
salt down into the ears, nose, eyes, and feet, then roll it up again
and tie it tight, with the fur side out. Bear hides will keep all
right that way if you haven't sunshine enough to dry them. The best
way to keep a hide, though, is simply to scrape it clean and dry it in
the sun, and after that fold it. It wil