Since there
were only two or three inches of snow on the ground, they did not have
to use snowshoes and hoped therefore that they should return by evening.
They found the first trap on Stoss Pond and from there followed the line
without much difficulty, for Daddy Goss had made a trail by spotting
trees with his hatchet. Moreover, the marten traps were "boxed" into
spruce-trees at a height of two or three feet from the ground and could
easily be seen.
There is an old saying among trappers that nothing catches game like a
neglected trap; and that time at least the adage was correct. The boys
found a marten in the second trap and found others at frequent
intervals. What was remarkable, they found three minks, two ermines and
a fisher in traps on high, hilly forest land. I think the old Squire
once said that they took nineteen martens from the traps, of which there
were one hundred and two.
The boys soon found themselves loaded down with fur. Since they were to
have half of what they brought home, they did not like to leave
anything. So with an ever increasing burden on their backs they toiled
on from trap to trap. Before night each was carrying at least forty and
perhaps fifty pounds.
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