pliant wood, for each hide, and then pulling the hide over it. The
hides are thus left until they are dry, when the bows are taken
out and the hides are packed in a frame made for that purpose,
fifty in a bale.

All of this kind of work I had learned at Bent's Fort, while
there, from the many trappers there. Besides, Uncle Kit had given
me other lessons in the work.

Uncle Kit and Mr. Hughes made a trip to the cache every other day
until the stuff was all packed up to our winter quarters.

I had my hands full attending to the traps, as the men brought
more of them on the second trip, and they set enough of them to
make double work for me. One dozen traps is called a "string," and
it is considered one man's work, ordinarily, to "tend a string."

The two men brought all the stuff up from the cache in five trips.
On the day the last trip was made, I went out early, as usual, to
attend to the traps, of which we had thirty-six. That morning I
took twenty-three beaver, and seeing that it would be impossible
for me to skin them all, I set about to carry them to the dug-out.
If ever a boy worked, I did that day, and had just got through
carrying them in when Uncle Kit and Mr. Hughes returned.

After we had got caught up with our work and rested a few days,
Uncle Kit said one morning that we must be out early next day and
get our work done so that we could go and kill some elk. "For,"
said he, "we have got to have meat for the winter and we must have
some hides for beds."