172 THE LAND OF PLUCK

and a knife at the back of his belt. He looked very fierce,
too, yet she knew he would not harm her. She had seen
many a trapper since she had come to the West, and, be-
sides, she felt almost sure he was the very trapper who had
been at her father’s cabin a few months before, and taken
supper, warming himself by the big fire while he told
wonderful stories about Indians and furs, and about hav-
ing many a time had “fifty mile o’ traps out on one
stretch.” Yes, he was the very man, she believed, who had
told her parents how he had seen a bear walking one moon-
light night across the very spot where their cabin now stood.

She remembered, too, that her father had told her the
next day that trappers lived by catching with traps all