The Banner Boy Scouts Snowbound Part 19

"Beavers around this section too!" exclaimed Jud, as though it almost took his breath away.

"Only wan little colony," explained Tolly Tip.

"I'd give something to get a picture of real, live beavers, at their work," Paul remarked.

"Thin ye'll have till come up this way nixt spring time, whin they do be friskin' around like young lambs," the woodsman told him. "Jist now they do be snug in their winter quarters, and ye'll not see a speck av thim. If it's the house ye want to take a picture av, the chance is yours any day ye see fit."

After supper was over Jack and Tom took a look at the new bunks.

"A bully job, fellows!" declared the latter, "and one that does you credit. Why, every one of us is now fitted with a coffin. And I see we can sleep without danger of rolling out, since you've fixed a slat across the front of each bunk."

"Taken as a whole," Frank announced, "I think the scouts have done pretty well for their first day at Camp Garrity. Don't you, fellows?

Plenty of fish and venison in the locker, all these bunks built, lots of valuable information picked up, and last but not least, coals of fire poured on the head of the enemy."

They sat around again and talked as the evening advanced, for there was an endless list of interesting things to be considered. Later Paul accompanied the old woodsman on his walk to the place where he believed the bear would pa.s.s. Here they set out the honey comb that had been carried along, to serve as an attractive bait.

"Ye understand," explained Tolly Tip, as they wended their way homeward again in the silvery moonlight that made the scene look like fairyland, "that once the ould rascal finds a trate like that he'll come a sniffin' around ivery night for a week av Sundays, hopin'

fortune wull be kind till him ag'in."

As the boys were very tired after such a strenuous day, they did not sit up very late.

Every lad slept soundly on this, the second night in camp. In fact, most of them knew not a single thing five minutes after they lay down until the odor of coffee brought them to their senses to find that it was broad daylight, and that breakfast was well under way.

Paul and Jud left the camp immediately after breakfast intending to go to the place where the honey comb had been left as bait. Tolly Tip, before they went, explained further.

"Most times, ye say, bears go into their winter quarters with the first hard cold spell, and hibernate till spring comes. This s'ason it has been so queer I don't know but what the bear is still at large, because I saw his tracks just the day before ye arrived in camp."

When the pair came back the others met them with eager questions.

"How about it, Paul?"

"Any chance of getting that flashlight?"

"Did you find the honey gone?"

"See any tracks around?"

Paul held up his hand.

"I'll tell you everything in a jiffy, fellows, if you give me half a chance," he said. "Yes, we found that the honeycomb had been carried off; and there in the snow were some pretty big tracks left by Bruin, the bear!"

"Good!" exclaimed Frank Savage, "then he'll be back to-night. It's already settled that you'll coax him to snap off his own picture."

CHAPTER XX

AT THE BEAVER POND

The second day in camp promised to be very nearly as full of action as that lively first one had been. Every scout had half a dozen things he wanted to do; so, acting on the advice of Paul, each made out a list, and thus followed a regular programme.

Jud, having learned that there were partridges about, set off with his shotgun to see if he could bag a few of the plump birds.

"Don't forget there are ten of us here, Jud!" called Spider s.e.xton, "and that each one of us can get away with a bird."

"Have a heart, can't you?" remonstrated the Nimrod, laughingly. "Cut it down to half all around, and I might try to oblige you. Think of me, staggering along under such a load of game as that. Guess you never hefted a fat partridge, Spider."

"I admit that I never _ate_ one, if that suits you, Jud," replied the other, frankly.

Paul on his part had told Tolly Tip he would like to accompany him on his round of the traps on that particular morning.

"Of course, I've got an object in view when I say that," he explained.

"It is to take a look at the beaver house you've been telling me about. I want to take my camera along, and snap off a few views of it.

That will be better than nothing when we tell the story."

"Count me in on that trip, Paul," said Spider s.e.xton. "I always did want to see a regular beaver colony, and learn how they make the dam where their houses are built. I hope you don't object to my joining you?"

"Not a bit. Only too glad to have you for company, Spider," answered the scout-master. "Only both of us are under Tolly Tip's orders, you understand. He has his rules when visiting the traps, which we mustn't break, as that might ruin his chances of taking more pelts."

"How can that be, Paul?" demanded the other.

"Oh! you'll understand better as you go along," called out Bluff, who was close by and heard this talk. "Sandy Griggs and I learned a heap yesterday while helping him gather his harvest of skins. And for one, I'll never forget what he explained to me, it was all so interesting."

"The main thing is this," Paul went on to say, in order to relieve Spider's intense curiosity to some extent. "You must know all these wild animals are gifted with a marvelous sense of smell, and can readily detect the fact that a human being has been near their haunts."

"Why, I never thought about that before, Paul," admitted Spider; "but I can see how it must be so. I've hunted with a good setter, and know what a dog's scent is."

"Well, a mink or an otter or a fox is gifted even more than the best dog you ever saw," Paul continued, "and on that account it's always up to the trapper to conceal the fact that a human being has been around, because these animals seem to know by instinct that man is their mortal enemy."

"How does he do it then?" asked Spider.

"You'll see by watching Tolly Tip," the scout-master told him.

"Sometimes trappers set their snares by means of a skiff, so as not to leave a trace of their presence, for water carries no scent. Then again they will wade to and from the place where the trap is set."

"But in the winter-time they couldn't do that, could they?" protested Spider.

"Of course not, and to overcome that obstacle they sometimes use a scent that overpowers their own, as well as serves to draw the animal to the fatal trap."

"Oh! I remember now seeing some such thing advertised in a sporting magazine as worth its weight in gold to all trappers. And the more I hear about this the stronger my desire grows to see into it. Are we going to start soon, Paul?"

"There's Tolly Tip almost ready to move along, so get your gun, and I'll look after my camera, Spider."

At the time they left Camp Garrity it presented quite a bustling picture. There was Bobolink l.u.s.tily swinging the axe and cutting some wood close by the shed where a winter's supply of fuel had been piled up. Tom Betts was busying himself cleaning some of the fish taken on the preceding day. Jack was hanging out all the blankets on several lines for an airing, as they still smelled of camphor to a disagreeable extent. Several others were moving to and fro engaged in various duties.

As the two scouts trotted along at the heels of the old woodsman they found many things to chat about, for there was no need of keeping silent at this early stage of the hike. Later on when in the vicinity of the trap line it would be necessary to bridle their tongues, or at least to talk in whispers, for the wary little animals would be apt to shun a neighborhood where they heard the sound of human voices.