THE next morning, as soon as they had eaten their breakfast, the trapper went to the door, and, after listening, and looking at the sky a few moments, said:
“Youngsters, if we intend to ketch any of them beaver, we had better do it to-day. We are goin’ to have a storm as is a storm, an’ afore two days the woods will be blocked up so that we can’t do no huntin’ at all.”
Frank and George were eager to accompany the trapper, for beaver-hunting was something entirely new to them; but Archie and Harry concluded to make another attempt to capture the black fox; for the trapper’s description of his swiftness and cunning had rendered him an object worthy of attention, and made the young hunters more anxious than ever to catch him.
Frank and George drew on their overcoats, strapped their blankets fast to their belts, and filled their haversacks. When all was ready, each shouldered his gun and an ax, and followed the trapper from the cabin. About noon they came to a halt on the banks of a large pond that lay hemmed in on all sides by the trees. Near the center of this pond were several objects of a conical shape, looking like drifts of snow. These were the beavers’ houses.
The boys were entirely at a loss to conceive how they were to go to work to capture the beaver. If they began to cut through the houses, the animals would take the alarm in a moment, and dive under the ice, where they would be safe from all pursuit.
“I’ll show you how it is done,” said the trapper, who perceived that they did not understand it. “In the first place, take your axes and go and pound on every house you can see.”
“Why, that will frighten out all the beaver,” said Frank.
“That’s jest what I want to do,” said Dick; “but you must know that a beaver can’t live under the ice any longer than me or you.”
He then went on to explain that the banks on each side of the pond were supplied with “breathing-holes,” which were dug into the bank, and extended upward above the level of the water, and that the beaver, when frightened out of their houses, would seek refuge in these holes, where they could be easily captured.
“But how do we know where these holes are?” asked George.