"No, sir, I'm agin them. Bows and arrows is less destructful an' calls
for more Woodcraft an' give more sport--that is, for small game.
Besides, they don't make that awful racket, an' you know who is the
party that owns the shot, for every arrow is marked."
Yan was sorry that Caleb did not indorse the arrow for big game, too.
The Trapper was well started now; he seemed ready enough with
information to-day, and Yan knew enough to "run the rapids on the
freshet."
"How do you make a ketchalive?"
"What for?"
"Oh, Mink."
"They ain't fit to catch now, and the young ones need the mothers."
"I wouldn't keep it. I only want to make a drawing."
"Guess that won't harm it if you don't keep it too long. Have ye any
boards? We used to chop the whole thing out of a piece of Balsam wood
or White Pine, but the more stuff ye find ready-made the easier it is.
Now I'll show you how to make a ketchalive if ye'll promise me never
to miss a day going to it while it is set."
The boys did not understand how any one could miss a day in visiting a
place of so much interest, and readily promised.
So they made a ketchalive, or box-trap, two feet long, using hay wire
to make a strong netting at one end.
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