Cautiously he stole down to the river bank, and from the cover of brush scanned the opposite shore. His sharp eyes quickly detected half hidden by trees and drift, a small log tilt. Smoke was rising from the protruding stovepipe.
“Who can that be trappin’ in there?” Indian Jake asked himself.
As though in answer to his question the tilt door opened, and Uncle Ben Rudder, with kettle and ax, came down to the river, cut open a water hole, filled his kettle and returned to the tilt.
“Th’ old wolverine!” exclaimed Indian Jake when Uncle Ben had disappeared. “What’s he doin’ in here? Tried t’ keep me from huntin’! If he’d had his way Thomas Angus wouldn’t have let me have the Seal Lake trail! Always meddlin’ with other folks’ business! Well, I got th’ trail, and th’ fur too, you old skunk!”
The half-breed grinned triumphantly, and his face was not pleasant to see then.
“He’ll find out somethin’ before I’m through with him,” added Indian Jake, and turning about with his unfilled kettle he cautiously returned under cover of the trees to his toboggan. “Wouldn’t he like t’ run on me now! Wouldn’t he like t’ know about th’ fur I’ve got!”
Indian Jake resumed his journey. To light a fire would be too dangerous, for even with the wind in an opposite direction, a whiff of smoke carried across the river might disclose his presence to Uncle Ben, and Indian Jake had reason to look upon Uncle Ben as an enemy that just at the present time he did not care to encounter.
Camping at night and traveling leisurely by day, Indian Jake continued down the valley of the Nascaupee until, one afternoon, a little way above the place where the river empties into Grand Lake, he fell upon numerous indications of the presence of bears. A careful examination satisfied him that these were made late the previous fall, and that there were at least two, and possibly more bears, hibernating in the immediate vicinity. His Indian instinct to permit no game to escape him was aroused. Presently the bears would come forth from their long winter sleep. They would be hungry, and could easily be trapped. The temptation was too strong to be resisted.
“I’ll have time t’ get away over th’ ice,” he decided. “I can fix up some sort of a canoe while I’m waitin’, and if I get caught by th’ break-up I can make out. Like as not some of th’ Injuns’ll be along anyhow. They’ll let me go along with ’em. I’m thinkin’ I’ll stay here a while and trap bear.”