I'm almost afraid to touch anything to eat-there's sure to be a Trap underneath. The other day I saw a nice, fat White Fish head, and thought Mink had left a bite for me; but when I reached for it, bang! went a pair of steel jaws, scraping my very nose. Fat Fish! it was a close shave-I'm trembling yet; the jagged teeth looked so viciously cruel. If my leg had got in them I know what I should have had to do."
"So do I," asserted Jack.
"What would he have done, Babbler-you who know all things?" asked Lynx.
"Died!" solemnly croaked Jay.
"I should have had to cut off my leg, as a cousin of mine did," declared Wapistan. "He's still alive, but we all help him get a living now. I wish my skin was as cheap as Muskrat's."
"Oh, bless us! he's only worth fifteen cents," remonstrated Jack. "His wool is but used for lining-put on the inside of Men's big coats where it won't show. But your fur, dear Pussy Marten, is worth eight dollars; think of that! Of course that's for a prime pelt. That Brother of yours, sitting over there with the faded yellow jacket, wouldn't fetch more than three or four at the outside; but I'll give you seven for yours now, and chance it-shouldn't wonder if you'd fetch twelve when they skin you, for your coat is nice and black."
"I suppose there's no price on your hide," whined Lynx; "it's nice to be of no value in the world-isn't it?"
"There's always a price on brains; but that doesn't interest you, Silly, does it? You're not in the market. Your understanding runs to a fine discrimination in perfumes-prominent odours, like Castoreum, or dead Fish. If you were a Man you'd have been a hair-dresser.
"Muskwa, your pelt's a useful one; still it doesn't sell for a very great figure. Last year at Wapiscaw I saw pictures on the Factor's walls of men they call Soldiers, and they had the queerest, great, tall head-covers, made from the skins of cousins of yours. And the Factor also had a Bear pelt on the floor, which he said was a good one, worth twenty dollars-that's your value dead, twenty dollars.
"Mooswa's shaggy shirt is good; but they scrape the hair off and make moccasins of the leather. Think of that, Weed-eater; perhaps next year the Trappers will be walking around in your hide, killing your Brother, or your Daddy, or some other big-nosed, spindle-legged member of your family. The homeliest man in the whole Chippewa tribe they have named 'The Moose,' and he's the ugliest creature I ever saw; you'd be ashamed of him-he's even ashamed of himself."
"What's the hide worth?" asked Carcajou.
"Seven dollars the Factor pays in trade, which is another name for robbery; but I think it's dear at that price, with no hair on, for it is tanned, of course-the Squaws make the skin into leather. You wouldn't believe, though, that they'd ever be able to skin Bushy-tail, would you?"
"What! the Skunk?" cried Lynx. "Haven't the Men any noses?"
"Not like yours, Slink; but they take his pelt right enough; and the white stripes down his back that he's so proud of are dyed, and these Men, who are full of lies, sell it as some kind of Sable. And Marten, too, they sell him as Sable-Canadian Sable."
"I'm sure we are all enjoying this," suggested Black King, sarcastically.
"Yes, Brothers," assented Whisky-Jack, "Black Fox's silver hide is worth more than all the rest put together. Sometimes it fetches Five Hundred Dollars!"
"Oh!" exclaimed Otter, enviously; "is that true, Jack?"
"It is, Bandy-legs-I always speak the truth; but it is only a fad. A tribe of Men called Russians buy Silver Fox; it is said they have a lot of money, but, like Pisew, little brains. For my part, I'd rather have feathers; they don't rub off, and are nicer in every way. Do you know who likes your coat, Carcajou?"
"The Russians!" piped Mink, like a little school-boy.
"Stupid Fish-eater! Bigger fools than the Russians buy Wolverine-the Eskimo, who live away down at the mouth of the big river that runs to the icebergs."
"What are icebergs, Brother?" asked Mink.
"Pieces of ice," answered Jack. "Now you know everything, go and catch a Goldeye for your supper."
"Goldeye don't come up the creeks, you ignorant Bird," retorted Sakwasew. "I wish they did, though; one can see their big, yellow eyes so far in the water-they're easily caught."
"Suckers are more useful," chimed in Fisher; "when they crowd the river banks in Autumn, eating those black water-bugs, I get fat, and hardly wet a foot; I hate the water, but I do like a plump, juicy Sucker."
"Not to be compared to a Goldeye or Doré," objected Mink; "they're too soft and flabby."
"Fish, Fish, Fish! always about Fish, or something to eat, with you Water-Rats," interrupted Carcajou, disgustedly. "Do let us get back to the subject. Do you know what the Men say of our Black King, Comrades?"
"They call him The Devil!" declared Jay.
"No they don't," objected Carcajou; "they aver he's Wiesahkechack, the great Indian God, who could change himself into Animals-that's what they think. You all know François, the French Half-breed, who trapped at Hay River last Winter."
"He killed my First Cousin," sighed Marten.
"I lost a Son by him-poisoned," moaned Black King's Mother, the Red Widow, who had been sitting quietly during the meeting watching with maternal pride the form of her son.
"Yes, he tried to catch me," boasted Carcajou, "but I outwitted him, and threw a Number Four Steel Trap in the river. He had a fight with a Chippewa Indian over it-blamed him for the theft. Oh, I enjoyed that. I was hidden under a Spruce log, and watched François pummel the Indian until he ran away. I don't understand much French, but the Half-breed used awful language. I wish they'd always fight amongst themselves."
"Why didn't the Chippewa squeeze François till he was dead? – that's what I should have done," growled Muskwa. "Do you remember Nichemous, the Cree Half-breed, who always keeps his hat tied on with a handkerchief?"
"I saw him once," declared Black Fox.
"Well, he tried to shoot me-crept up close to a log I was lying behind, and poked his Ironstick over it, thinking I was asleep. That was in the Winter-I think it was the Second of February: but do you know, sometimes I get my dates mixed. One year I forgot in my sleep, and came out on the First to see what the weather was like. Ha, ha! fancy that; coming out on the First and thought it was the Second."
"What has that got to do with Nichemous, old Garrulity?" squeaked Whisky-Jack.
Muskwa licked his gray nose apologetically for having wandered from the subject. "Well, as I have said, it was the Second of February; I had been lying up all Winter in a tremendously snug nest in a little coulee that runs off Pembina River. Hunger! but I was weak when I came out that day."
"I should think you would have been," sympathized the Bird, mockingly.
"I had pains, too; the hard Red-willow Berries that I always eat before I lay up were griping me horribly-they always do that-they're my medicine, you know."
"Muskwa is getting old," interrupted Jay. "He's garrulous-it's his pains and aches now."
Bear took no notice of the Bird. "I was tired and cross; the sun was nice and warm, and I lay down behind a log to rest a little. Suddenly there was a sound of the crisp hide of the snow cracking, and at first I thought it was something to eat coming, – something for my hunger. I looked cautiously over the tree, and there
