Henry Clifford had seated himself on the ground close to Jack, and was watching the operation of skinning with the utmost interest.
"You seem to do that wonderfully well," he said, "and very fast. I wonder if I could learn how to do it?"
"Of course you could," said Jack, "if you feel like it; but it's greasy work, as you can see for yourself."
"Oh, I shouldn't mind that," said Henry. "I should like to try and see if I could do it."
"Well," said Jack, "you have to be pretty careful not to cut the skin. If you make a hole in it, that takes away from its value, and every particle of the skin has got to be cut loose from the fat. You can not strip it off, as you can the hide of a deer."
"Would you mind if I tried to help you?" said Henry.
"Not a bit," said Jack, "I'd rather like to have you. If you like, I'll give you this knife that I'm using, and I'll take my jack-knife, and we can work together on this beaver. Perhaps if we do that we'll be able to beat Hugh, and get the hide off before he finishes his."
Jack whetted his knife on the whetstone and gave it to Henry, showing him how to take hold of the knife, and how to cut through the fat. "You had better roll up your sleeves," he said, "before you begin, for this grease gets all over everything."
Henry did so, and Jack took his jack-knife out of his pocket, and they both set to work.
Of course Jack had to watch Henry, to see that he did not cut the hide and that he did not leave too much fat on it, and that made him work more slowly than he otherwise would have done, but Henry took hold very well, and seemed to remember everything that Jack told him, and before long it was only necessary for Jack to give an occasional glance at the other's work.