s some creek or stream,
examining the banks with practiced eye to discern any sign of the
presence of beaver or of any other animal whose fur would prove
valuable. If a cotton-wood tree lies prostrate he examines it to see if
it has been cut down by the sharp tooth of the beaver; and if so whether
it has been cut down for food or to furnish material for damming a
stream. If the track of a beaver is seen in the mud, he follows the
track until he finds a good place to set his steel trap in the run of
the animal, hiding it under water and carefully attaching it by a chain
to a bush or tree, or to some picket driven into the bank. A float strip
is also made fast to the trap, so that should the beaver chance to break
away with the trap, this float upon the surface, at the end of a cord a
few feet long, would point out the position of the trap.

"When a 'lodge' is discovered the trap is set at the edge of the dam, at
the point where the animal passes from deep to shoal water. Early in the
morning the hunter always mounts his mule and examines the traps. The
captured animals are skinned, and the tails, which are a great dainty,
carefully packed into camp. The skin is then stretched over a hoop or
frame-work of osier twigs and is allowed to dry, the flesh and fatty
substance being carefully scraped off. When dry it is folded into a
square sheet, the fur turned inward, and the bundle, containing from
about ten to twenty skins, lightly pressed and corded, is ready for
transportation.

"During the hunt, regardless of Indian vicinity, the fearless trapper
wanders far and near in search of 'sign.' His nerves must ever be in a
state of tension and his mind ever present at his call. His eagle eye
sweeps around the country, and in an instant detects any foreign
appearance. A turned leaf, a blade of grass pressed down, the uneasiness
of wild animals, the flight of birds, are all paragraphs to him written
in nature's legible hand and plainest language. All the wits of the
subtle savage are called into play to gain an advantage over the wily
woodsman; but with the instinct of the primitive man, the white hunter
has the advantage of a civilised mind, and thus provided seldom fails to
outwit, under equal advantages, the cunning savage.

"Sometimes the Indian following on his trail, watches him set his traps
on a shrub-belted stream, and passing up the bed, like Bruce of old, so
that he may leave no track, he lies in wait in the bushes unt