THE next morning, as soon as they had eaten their breakfast, the trapper went to the door, and, after listening, and looking at the sky a few moments, said:
 
“Youngsters, if we intend to ketch any of them beaver¹, we had better do it to-day. We are goin’ to have a storm as is a storm, an’ afore two days the woods will be blocked up so that we can’t do no huntin’ at all.”
 
Frank and George were eager to accompany the trapper, for beaver-hunting was something entirely² new to them; but Archie and Harry³ concluded to make another attempt to capture the black fox; for the trapper’s description of his swiftness and cunning had rendered him an object worthy⁴ of attention, and made the young hunters more anxious than ever to catch him.
 
Frank and George drew on their overcoats, strapped⁵ their blankets fast to their belts, and filled their haversacks. When all was ready, each shouldered his gun and an ax, and followed the trapper from the cabin. About noon they came to a halt on the banks of a large pond that lay hemmed⁶ in on all sides by the trees. Near the center of this pond were several objects of a conical shape, looking like drifts of snow. These were the beavers⁷’ houses.
 
The boys were entirely at a loss to conceive how they were to go to work to capture the beaver. If they began to cut through the houses, the animals would take the alarm in a moment, and dive under the ice, where they would be safe from all pursuit.
 
“I’ll show you how it is done,” said the trapper, who perceived that they did not understand it. “In the first place, take your axes and go and pound on every house you can see.”
 
“Why, that will frighten out all the beaver,” said Frank.
 
“That’s jest what I want to do,” said Dick; “but you must know that a beaver can’t live under the ice any longer than me or you.”
 
He then went on to explain that the banks on each side of the pond were supplied with “breathing-holes,” which were dug into the bank, and extended upward above the level of the water, and that the beaver, when frightened out of their houses, would seek refuge in these holes, where they could be easily captured.
 
“But how do we know where these holes are?” asked George.
 
“Easy enough,” answered Dick. “All you have got to do is to go along the bank an’ strike the ice with an ax, an’ you can tell by the sound where they are. But I fixed⁸ all that when I first diskivered this pond. I know jest where the holes are. Now, you go an’ pound on them houses, an’ drive out the beaver.”
 
The boys accordingly laid down their guns, and commenced an attack on the dwellings⁹ of the beaver, when the animals at once plunged¹¹ into the water under the ice. After every house had been visited, and the boys were satisfied that they had made noise sufficient to drive out all the beaver, they returned to the place where they had left the trapper, and found him engaged in cutting a hole in the ice close to the bank. As the boys came up, he directed one of them to fasten his hunting-knife to a long sapling for a spear, and the other to chop a hole in the bank directly opposite to the one he had cut in the ice.
 
By the time the spear was finished, an opening had been cut down into the “breathing-hole,” and the hunters discovered three beaver crouching¹² in the furthest corner. Useless thrust his head into the hole, and contented¹³ himself with barking at the game; but Brave squeezed himself down into the opening among the beavers, and attacked them furiously. The animals made a desperate resistance, and in a few moments Brave backed out of the hole, with his ears and nose bleeding from several wounds, which showed that the long teeth of the beaver had been used to a good advantage. Frank gazed in surprise at the dog’s lacerated head, and exclaimed:
 
“There’s something besides a beaver in there.”
 
“No, I reckon not,” replied the trapper. “Your dog is jest about as keerless as you be, an’ hasn’t got no more sense than to pitch into every wild varmint he comes acrost. You must understand that a beaver can get up a tarnal good fight if he onct makes up his mind to it. An’ when you get one of ’em cornered up, it takes somethin’ besides a ’coon dog to whip him.”
 
Frank made no reply, and the trapper reached down with his long spear, when one after the other of the beavers were killed and pulled out on the bank. The attack on the houses was then renewed, to drive out any of the animals which might have returned. In the next breathing-hole two beavers were found, but only one was secured, the other making his escape by plunging¹⁴ back under the ice. While they were cutting into the next hole, a large mink¹⁵ suddenly popped out from under the roots of a tree into which the trapper was chopping; and although George made a frantic¹⁶ blow at him with the handle of his ax, he succeeded in getting past him, and started across the pond toward the opposite shore. The boys immediately went in pursuit, George leading the way, and Frank following close behind him, brandishing¹⁷ his spear, and shouting to the dogs, which were close upon the mink’s heels. The little animal made headway through the snow with a rapidity that was surprising; but the long bounds of the dogs were rapidly diminishing the distance between them, and when about half way across the pond, Useless overtook and seized him. The boys increased their speed, fearful that the dog might spoil the skin, which was one of the finest they had ever seen.
 
“Useless!” shouted George, “get out! drop that”——
 
He did not finish the sentence; for suddenly there was a loud crack, and the ice opened beneath him, and he sank out of sight in the cold water. Frank, as we have said, was following close behind him, and at the rate of speed at which he was running, it was impossible to stop; and the trapper, who had been watching the rac............