There"s a squirrel in it, I"ve no doubt. Let me get off and see."
"Well," said Wallace, "give me the bridle of your horse."
So Phonny threw the bridle over his horse"s head and gave it to Wallace. He then dismounted--sliding down the side of the horse safely to the ground.
As soon as he found himself safely down, he threw his riding-stick upon the gra.s.s, and ran off toward the trap.
The trap was placed upon a small stone by the side of a larger one. It was in a very snug and sheltered place, almost out of view. In fact it probably would not have been observed by any ordinary pa.s.ser-by.
Phonny ran up to the trap, and took hold of it. He lifted it up very cautiously. He shook it as well as he could, and then listened. He thought that he could hear or feel some slight motion within. He became very much excited.
He put the trap down upon the high rock, and began opening up the lid a little, very gently.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TRAP.]
The trap was of the kind called by the boys a box-trap. It is in the form of a box, and the back part runs up high, to a point. The lid of the box has a string fastened to it, which string is carried up, over the high point, and thence down, and is fastened to an apparatus connected with the spindle.
The spindle is a slender rod of wood which pa.s.ses through the end of the box into the interior. About half of the spindle is within the box and half without. There is a small notch in the outer part of the spindle, and another in the end of the box, a short distance above the spindle. There is a small bar of wood, with both ends sharpened, and made of such a length as just to reach from the notch in the end of the box, to the notch in the spindle. This bar is the apparatus to which the end of the string is fastened, as before described.
When the trap is to be set, the bar is fitted to the notches in such a manner as to catch in them, and then the weight of the lid, being sustained by the string, the lid is held up so that the squirrel can go in. The front of the box is attached to the lid, and rises with it, so that when the lid is raised a little the squirrel can creep directly in. The bait, which is generally a part of an ear of corn, is fastened to the end of the spindle, which is within the trap. The squirrel sees the bait, and creeps in to get it. He begins to nibble upon the corn. The ear is tied so firmly to the spindle that he can not get it away. In gnawing upon it to get off the corn, he finally disengages the end of the spindle from the bar, by working the lower end of the bar out of its notch; this lets the string up, and of course the lid comes down, and the squirrel is shut in, a captive.
When the lid first comes down, it makes so loud a noise as to terrify the poor captive very much. He runs this way and that, around the interior of the box, wondering what has happened, and why he can not get out as he came in. He has no more appet.i.te for the corn, but is in great distress at his sudden and unaccountable captivity.
After trying in vain on all sides to escape, by forcing his way, and finding that the box is too strong for him in every part, he finally concludes to gnaw out. He accordingly selects the part of the box where there is the widest crack, and where consequently the brightest light shines through. He selects this place, partly because he supposes that the box is thinnest there, and partly because he likes to work in the light.[A]
[Footnote A: To prevent the squirrels that are caught from gnawing out, the boys sometimes line the inside of their traps with tin.]
There was a squirrel in the trap which Phonny had found. It was a large and handsome gray squirrel. He had been taken that morning.
About an hour after the trap sprung upon him, he had begun to gnaw out, and he had got about half through the boards in the corner when Phonny found him. When Phonny shook the trap the squirrel clung to the bottom of it by his claws, so that Phonny did not shake him about much.
When Phonny had put the trap upon the great stone, he thought that he would lift up the lid a little way, and peep in. This is a very dangerous operation, for a squirrel will squeeze out through a very small aperture, and many a boy has lost a squirrel by the very means that he was taking to decide whether he had got one.
Phonny was aware of this danger, and so he was very careful. He raised the lid but very little, and looked under with the utmost caution. He saw two little round and very brilliant eyes peeping out at him.
"Yes, Wallace," said he. "Yes, yes, here he is. I see his eyes."
Wallace sat very composedly upon his horse, holding Phonny"s bridle, while Phonny was uttering these exclamations, without appearing to share the enthusiasm which Phonny felt, at all.
"He is here, Wallace," said Phonny. "He is, truly."
"I do not doubt it," said Wallace, "but what are we to do about it?"
"Why--why--what would you do?" asked Phonny.
"I suppose that the best thing that we could do," said Wallace, "is to ride along."
"And leave the squirrel?" said Phonny, in a tone of surprise.
"Yes," said Wallace. "I don"t see any thing else that we can do."
"Why, he will gnaw out," said Phonny. "He will gnaw out in half an hour. He has gnawed half through the board already. Espy ought to have tinned his trap." So saying, Phonny stooped down and peeped into the trap again, through the crack under the lid.
"Who is Espy?" asked Wallace.
"Espy Ransom," said Phonny. "He lives down by the mill. He is always setting traps for squirrels. I suppose that this road goes down to the mill, and that he came up here and set his trap. But it won"t do to leave the squirrel here," continued Phonny, looking at Wallace in a very earnest manner. "It never will do in the world."
"What shall we do, then?" asked Wallace.
"Couldn"t we carry him down to Espy?" said Phonny.
"I don"t think that we have any right to carry him away. It is not our squirrel, and it may be that it is not Espy"s."
Phonny seemed perplexed. After a moment"s pause he added, "Couldn"t we go down and tell Espy that there is a squirrel in his trap?"
"Yes," said Wallace, "that we can do."
Phonny stooped down and peeped into the trap again.
"The rogue," said he. "The moment that I am gone, he will go to gnawing again, I suppose, and so get out and run away. What a little fool he is."
"Do you think he is a fool for trying to gnaw out of that trap?" asked Wallace.
"Why no,"--said Phonny, "but I wish he wouldn"t do it. We will go down quick and tell Espy."
So Phonny came back to the place where Wallace had remained in the road, holding the horses. Phonny let down the bars, and Wallace went through with the horses. Phonny immediately put the bars up again, took the bridle of his own horse from Wallace"s hands, threw it up over the horse"s head, and then by the help of a large log which lay by the side of the road, he mounted. He did all this in a hurried manner, and ended with saying:
"Now, Cousin Wallace, let"s push on. I don"t think it"s more than half a mile to the mill."
CHAPTER III.
THE PLOWING.
While Wallace and Phonny were taking their ride, as described in the last chapter, Stuyvesant and Beechnut were plowing.
Beechnut told Stuyvesant that he was ready to yoke up, as he called it, as soon as the horses had gone.
"Well," said Stuyvesant, "I will come. I have got to go up to my room a minute first."
So Stuyvesant went up to his room, feeling in his pockets as he ascended the stairs, to find the keys of his trunk. When he reached his room, he kneeled down before his trunk and unlocked it.
He raised the lid and began to take out the things. He took them out very carefully, and laid them in order upon a table which was near the trunk. There were clothes of various kinds, some books, and several parcels, put up neatly in paper. Stuyvesant stopped at one of these parcels, which seemed to be of an irregular shape, and began to feel of what it contained through the paper.
"What is this?" said he to himself. "I wonder what it can be. Oh, I remember now, it is my watch-compa.s.s."
What Stuyvesant called his watch-compa.s.s, was a small pocket-compa.s.s made in the form of a watch. It was in a very pretty bra.s.s case, about as large as a lady"s watch, and it had a little handle at the side, to fasten a watch-ribbon to. Stuyvesant"s uncle had given him this compa.s.s a great many years before. Stuyvesant had kept it very carefully in his drawer at home, intending when he should go into the country to take it with him, supposing that it would be useful to him in the woods. His sister had given him a black ribbon to fasten to the handle. The ribbon was long enough to go round Stuyvesant"s neck, while the compa.s.s was in his waistcoat pocket.