"That would not be right," rejoined Martin. "It is another man's property."
"Which he forfeited by false pretences. No, children, whatever found without an owner in these wilds, falls to the finder by right," said the Trapper.
"I think the children are right," said Mrs. Duncan, who had come hither at the sound of their mirth.
"Suppose the owner is dead and never comes for it," said Howe.
"It in no wise alters the case. It is better that it never finds an owner than possess ourselves of what has purposely been hid from us."
"Such notions are right and proper for a settlement, but for a place like this, it is carrying it to too nice a point."
"The rights of others should be as sacred to us in one place as another," replied Mrs. Duncan.
"Suppose somebody had trapped beaver and foxes in some particular locality, would that make the animals that were uncaught in that locality his own?"
"Certainly not. The case is different; as the beaver uncaught never were his, he had no claim on them. But if he caught a hundred beaver and cured the skins, and secreted them in some place until he chose to sell them, it would be decidedly dishonest for any one to take them away as their own, because they had found the place in which they were hidden."
"I believe you are right, Mary. Joshua shall be reinterred," said Howe, rolling the barrel in its old bed, and proceeding to cover it.