The method of setting is simple; a
hollow is made, large enough to receive the trap as it lies open;
on the pan of the trap some grass is laid smoothly; on each side
of the trap a piece of prickly brush is placed, so that in
leaping over these the creature will land on the lurking snare.
The chain was made fast to a small log.
Although so seldom seen there is no doubt that the marten comes
out chiefly by day. That night the trap remained unsprung; next
morning as Rolf went at silent dawn to bring water from the lake,
he noticed a long, dark line that proved to be ducks. As he sat
gazing he heard a sound in the tree beyond the cabin. It was
like the scratching of a squirrel climbing about. Then he saw
the creature, a large, dark squirrel, it seemed. It darted up
this tree and down that, over logs and under brush, with the
lightning speed of a lightning squirrel, and from time to time it
stopped still as a bump while it gazed at some far and suspicious
object. Up one trunk it went like a brown flash, and a moment
later, out, cackling from its top, flew two partridges. Down to
the ground, sinuous, graceful, incessantly active flashed the
marten.
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