He spent some time in the partly frozen marsh, examining the homes of the muskrats; and after that had Tom tell him all he knew about the ways in which the mink lived, both at home, and when abroad searching for food.
They had no trouble in getting all the venison they wanted; and once, when their larder began to decline, on account of a spell of bad weather, who should come to the dugout but Jo Crow, bearing the choice portions of a young buck, which his father had sent over to the Little Doctor, as a slight token of his gratitude for services rendered.
Just as though that small debt had not been wiped out, Felix remarked, when he was so hospitably received in the Crow cabin, fed, and then assisted in recovering his stolen property.
But then Tom knew that young Jo must have fond recollections of that smooth tasting Java, and he made sure to treat the boy to many cups of coffee at each meal, while he stopped over night with them.
And when, after a heavy storm, they found a chance to make the first use of the snow shoes they had brought along, the boys proved that they knew how to utilize the advantages this means of locomotion gave them over the animals of the forest.
Once Tom, when on his way back from his traps, was pursued by a pack of hungry wolves; but he had what he was pleased to term a "picnic" with them. He would stop and let them come within a certain distance, when several shots from his repeating rifle lessened their number considerably. After that he would start on again, all the while slipping fresh cartridges into his gun so as to have a full equipment, in case of an emergency.
As the animals still kept after him, Tom repeated his former tactics, and knocked a couple more wolves over. He would have liked to keep dotting the snow with their forms, because he hated the breed violently; but by this time they scented trouble, and hauled off.
So Tom even went back, and secured the pelts of the last two, adding them to the lot he was taking home.
"You see," he remarked to Felix that night, as they sat around the fire, speaking of what had happened during the day, "that's a great advantage one gets by knowing how to use snow shoes. The varmints floundered through the drifts, while I just skipped over them as if I had wings. Why, I could have circled the pack at times, if I'd wanted. And they were savage with hunger, all right, too, because only for that they wouldn't have kept so hard after me."
"But I'd have thought they'd stop to make a meal off those you shot at first," remarked Felix.