With Trapper Jim in the North Woods | Page 2

Clarence.
These five boys had come together with the idea of having a good time
in the great outdoors during vacation days.
And Fortune had been very kind to them right in the start. Although
Max always declared that it was some remark of his cousin that put him
on the track, and Owen on his part vowed that the glory must rest with
Max alone, still the fact remained that once the idea popped up it was
eagerly seized upon by both boys.
They needed more or less cash with which to purchase tents, guns, and
such other things as appeal to boys who yearn to camp out, fish, hunt,
and enjoy the experiences of outdoor life.
As the Glorious Fourth had exhausted their savings banks, this bright
idea was hailed with more or less glee by the other three members of
the club.
It was not an original plan, but that mattered nothing. Success was what
they sought, and to attain it the boys were quite willing to follow any
old beaten path.
An account of valuable pearls being found in mussels that were picked
up along certain streams located in Indiana, Arkansas, and other states,
suggested the possibility of like treasures near at home.
Now, Carson, their native town, lay upon the Evergreen River; and this

stream had two branches, called the Big Sunflower and the Elder. The
boys knew that there were hundreds of mussels to be found up the
former stream. They had seen the shells left by hungry muskrats, and
even gathered a few to admire the rainbow-hued inside coating, which
Owen told them was used in the manufacture of pearl buttons.
But up to that time no one apparently had dreamed that there might be a
snug little fortune awaiting the party who just started in to gather the
mussels along the Big Sunflower.
This Max and his chums had done. Their success had created quite an
excitement around Carson.
When it was learned what was going on, farm hands deserted their
daily tasks; boys quit loafing away the vacation days, and even some of
those who toiled in the factories were missing from their looms.
Everybody hunted for pearls. The little Big Sunflower never saw such
goings on. They combed its waters over every rod of the whole mile
where the fresh-water clams seemed to exist.
When the furor was over, and there were hardly half a hundred
wretched mussels left in the waters that had once upon a time fairly
teemed with them, the results were very disappointing.
Two or three small pearls had been found, it is true, but the majority of
the seekers had to be satisfied with steamed mussels, or fresh-water
clam chowder, as a reward for their hard work.
The wide-awake boys who first conceived the idea had taken the cream
of the pickings. And from a portion of the money secured through the
sale of these beautiful pearls they had purchased everything needed to
fill the heart of a camper with delight.
Here, as the afternoon sun headed down toward the western horizon,
the boys, having arrived by way of a buckboard wagon at noon, were
looking into the flames of Trapper Jim's big fire in the log cabin, and
mentally shaking hands with each other in mutual congratulation over

their good fortune.
There was a decided tang of frost in the air, which told that the summer
season was gone and early fall arrived.
It might seem strange that these boys, who in October might be
expected to be deep in the fall school term, should be away from home
and up in the wilderness.
That was where Good Luck remembered them again, and the
explanation is simple enough.
Even in the well-managed town of Carson, school directors sometimes
neglected their work. And in this year, when the vacation period was
three quarters over, the discovery was made that the big building was in
such a bad condition that certain extensive repairs would have to be
made.
In consequence, greatly to the delight of the older scholars, it was
decided that school for them could not take up until the middle of
November.
As soon as Max learned of this delightful fact he knew the time had
come for their long-promised visit to Trapper Jim.
They had been tempted to go during the summer months, but as there
was little to do in the woods at that period of the year save fishing, the
boys had been holding off.
Now they could expect to use their guns; to see how Jim set his
cunning traps that netted him such rich rewards each winter season, and
to enjoy to the full that most glorious time of the whole year in the
woods, the autumn season, when the leaves