"And look at that moose's head over the door," said Bob, pointing to one with enormous antlers.
"Brung him down myself," said the trapper, "and after as pretty a tussle as you'd want ter see. That was long ago. And here's something else, young fellers."
He pointed to a corner of the room. The boys crowded over and saw a number of clay modelings of animals, which made them open their eyes in astonishment.
"My eye! A wildcat," cried John Hackett, "and natural as can be."
"A wolf, too," said Bob. "That certainly is great."
"Christopher, I wish I could do work like this," put in Nat Wingate.
The trapper smiled at their enthusiasm. "Why shouldn't I be able to make 'em?" he asked. "Ain't I seen them critters for years an' years? Ain't I shot 'em—an' trapped 'em? I ain't got none too much book learnin', mebbe, an' who has?" he went on, "but I can tell you a few things 'bout the woods, an' the wild critters in 'em. Know the things about yer, that's what I calls eddication."
The trapper spoke earnestly and continued to enlarge upon a theme which was evidently a favorite one with him. At length, however, he paused, and asked the boys to tell him how they had managed to read his message.
Bob complied with the request, explaining the matter briefly but clearly.
At his conclusion, the trapper nodded approvingly, and was about to make some remark, when Billy Musgrove suddenly blurted out, in his loud, impudent voice, "See here, old sport, you was the feller what put a stuffed cat in front of them chaps' huts, eh?"