Their hard work had given the boys glorious appetites, and they did
full justice to the good things Mrs. Gordon had put up for them. Don
said their lunch might have been much improved by the addition of one
of the ducks Bert had shot that morning, but their time was much too
precious to be wasted in cooking. The hardest part of their task was
yet to be done, and that was to build a movable roof for their cabin.
Don, who had received explicit instructions from his father the night
before, superintended this work, and by the middle of the afternoon
the trap was completed and set, ready for the bear's reception.
It looked, as we have said, like a little log cabin with a flat roof.
One end of the roof rested on the rear wall of the trap, while the
other was raised in the air, leaving an opening sufficiently large to
admit of the entrance of any bear that was likely to come that way.
The roof was held in this position by a stout lever, which rested
across the limb of a convenient tree. A rope led from the other end
of the lever, down through a hole in the roof, to the trigger, to
which the bait--an ear of corn--was attached. The bear was expected
to crawl through the opening and seize the ear of corn; and in so
doing, he would spring the trigger, release the lever and the roof
would fall down and fasten him in the pen.
Pages:
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164