"Jest ketched him in time. Ye see he bed got the game outen the steel,
an' was tryin' to sot the trap again so as I wouldn't know it. That
proves he was sent up here by that sneakin' Bud Rabig; fur what would the
boy know about fixin' a trap if he didn't git guided?"
Jerry picked up the drowned muskrat and examined it.
"Pretty soft fur it has. Lots of it used nowadays I understand,"
he observed.
"Yas, but mostly under other names. Fur is a-gittin' skeercer all the
time, an' they hev to come to stuff they used to larf at. Now watch me
sot her, boys."
They were all interested in the manner in which the trap was set, for
much care and ingenuity is required in order to outwit the cautious
instincts of the animal; though muskrats are not half so timid as some
other animals whose fur is coveted by the trappers.
"Now fur the next trap. Hope I don't find a thief has be'n thar too,"
said Jesse.
Evidently Pet Peters had just started in to follow up the line of traps,
as described to him by Bud Rabig the rival of old Jesse, for they saw no
more evidences of a visit.
When an hour had passed they were carrying five victims of the
steel traps.
Jerry did not much fancy the business.
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