"Well, Jack and I will eat one piece; there's a piece for you, Rof. In this year of scarce food even the Death Bait is acceptable--though it's but a tooth-full. Are you hungry, Muskwa?"
"No; I am sleepy. I think I'll go to bed to-morrow for all Winter. You fellows have kept me up too late now."
"Give me a paw to break the ice in the stream, Muskwa--I'm going to cache this Trap," said Carcajou.
"All right," yawned Bear; "I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'm afraid my liver is out of order."
"Shouldn't eat so much," piped Whisky-Jack.
Muskwa slouched down to the river; Wolverine grabbed up the Trap in his strong jaws and followed. Bruin scraped the snow to one side deftly, uncovering a patch of the young ice, and two or three powerful blows from his mighty paw soon shivered a hole in it. Carcajou dropped the Trap through, saying, "It will close over to-night, and to-morrow perhaps the wind will cover it with snow."
The King looked on admiringly.
"Bra-vo! br-a-a-vo!" growled Blue Wolf. "I might have put my foot in that when I came to visit the Widow."
And so all day the conspirators followed François and The Boy, undoing their work.
To Muskwa's horror, near the nest he had prepared for his long Winter's rest they found a huge Bear Trap. At sight of its yawning jaws drops of perspiration dripped from Bruin's tongue. "Sweet Sleep! what should I do if I were to put a leg in that awful thing--it would crack the bone, I believe. Who in the name of Forest Fools told François where my house was?"