“What have you?” the man asked.
“Well, er—mister—”
“They call me Professor Ormsby,” said the stranger. “You may call me what you please.”
“Well, then, Professor,” Johnny went on, “we have a silver fox, a perfectly keen fox.”
“Caught in a trap, I suppose?”
“No. By hand.”
“By hand!” The Professor stared. “How do you do it?”
Johnny told him in as few words as possible and with no dramatics at all, just how it was done.
“Oh, I say!” the Professor exclaimed. “That’s great! You took a chance with that fox. But, let me see—No-o, I can’t use a silver fox. How about beavers?”
“We haven’t taken any beaver. We—well, we were afraid it might be against the law even to catch them alive.”