"merry christmas!"
it was the captain's voice, who felt it a part of his duty to be the first "on deck" in the morning, but had a rival in his sister, who was quite as active as he.
"merry christmas! this what you call merry?" inquired jim, fretfully, as with his finger he traced figures in the frost on the under side of the canvas.
"well, let's try to make it as merry as we can," katy cried, cheerfully, from the starboard corner of the stern-sheets.
"i know what i'm going to do," said tug—"make bird-traps. i lay awake a long time in the night planning them."
"while you fellows talkee-talkee i'll build a fire;" and aleck's tall form was soon bent over the heap of wood, where a blaze was quickly crackling. tug and jim followed, and all went out of doors, as was their custom, leaving katy the whole igloo to herself for a little while.
immediately after breakfast tug began on his traps.
he had brought along with him as a part of his baggage what he sometimes called his gunsmith shop. it consisted of a square tin box that would hold about two quarts of chestnuts—if he had had any chestnuts to put in it, which he hadn't. besides a bag of no. 6 shot, this box contained one of the strangest and most worthless collections of odds and ends of boyish hardware that could be imagined. a catalogue of it would be useless. among other articles were a knife-blade that long ago had parted from its handle, a brad-awl in the same condition, and a broken bullet-mould bound together by a long winding of fine wire.
these three things the lad picked out and laid aside. then he turned over the rest of the contents of the box until he had secured several tacks and brads of varied sizes, and a round piece of tin with holes in it. next he discovered something which made him shout with a joy almost equal to his delight at finding the tree trunk. this best of all the finds, this forgotten treasure in the tin box, was a small coil of horse-hairs. they were the relics of a preparation he had made for a short camping trip into the woods three months before, while the october haze and bright cool air were playing among the rustling autumn leaves. how the scene came back to him! now these hairs would serve him for a better use than mere amusement. he was carefully unwinding them when jim rushed in to say that the snow-birds were around again.
"good!" cried tug. "take some crumbs out of the cracker box, and quietly throw them down where the snow-birds can get them. put 'em on the top of the hummock first, then we'll gradually toll 'em down below. i'll be out in a minute."
jim got his crackers and vanished. aleck was chopping wood, and katy was with him. it was a cold day, but sunny, and there were no signs of the snow melting. tug, alone in the house, looked fondly at his tools, and having nobody else to speak to, talked to himself.
"we're like the boy and the ground-hog. 'we ain't got no meat for the supper, and the preacher's comin'.' so i guess i'd better leave the twitch-ups and make some common box traps that kate and the kid can watch. come here—you!"
this last was addressed to a wooden box about twelve inches square, in which katy had been wont to pack the small articles of table use. tug turned them all out, and pulled off the leather hinges that held the cover. then, taking an oak splinter from the firewood, he cut it to the size of a lead-pencil, and notched it in the middle. in this notch he tied the end of the ball of twine which formed a part of the boat's stores, and cut off a length of about fifteen feet. next, he drew the locker out of the bearings upon which it rested, emptied it of its contents, and made a stick and length of twine to fit it in the same way. lastly, he tore two pieces a foot or so square from their one strong sheet of white paper. he had been at work scarcely ten minutes, but had ready two simple traps. then he went outside and called to katy, who came quickly.
"katy," he said, "i have something for you to do. please get a blanket and come out on top of the hummock, where you'll find me."
while the girl went inside for the blanket tug climbed up to the icy hill-top, where a small flock of snow-birds were pecking away at the crumbs jim had thrown out. the lad crept stealthily towards them, and though the birds moved away, they were not greatly frightened, and did not go far. as quietly and rapidly as possible he spread down his pieces of paper on the highest part of the hummock, at a little distance apart, and not far from the edge of the ice table. then, setting his boxes bottom upward, he perched each one slantwise upon one of his sticks, and stretched the strings away to the hummock's edge. on the paper underneath the boxes, and somewhat on the snow about them, he spread his bait of crumbs. then showing katy, who had now come out, where she could hide herself behind the edge of the upheaved ice cakes, he told her to wrap herself up well in the blanket, and to keep perfectly still till the birds came back. they would pick at the crumbs until by and by one or two of them would be sure to step under the boxes.
"then," said he, "you jerk your string, the box falls, and mr. snow-flake is a prisoner."
so katy took her position, and tug, asking jim to help him, went off to make some other traps.
"youngster," he directed, "i want you to cut me eight square pieces of ice, each one about as big as a brick, and after that two slabs about eighteen inches square and two or three inches thick. you can take the axe and cut 'em out in big chunks from the hummock, and then saw 'em into shape—here's the saw—and mind you keep away from where katy is."
"what do you want them for?"
"for traps—never you mind why: you'll see presently," was the lofty reply.
jim thought it a little unfair, but he good-naturedly took the axe and saw and went to work.
in half an hour he came to say he was done, and was quickly followed by his sister, whose face was beaming.
"i've caught three!" she cried.
"three? good!"
"yes, they came, a big flock—about forty, i should think—and chattered and twittered about over the house."
"i heard 'em," tug exclaimed.
"yes? well, they seemed to enjoy warming their wings in the smoke, for they flew through it lots of times. then pretty soon one spied a crumb, and i suppose he called his fellows, for in a minute they came all hopping about on the snow, and getting nearer and nearer the boxes. i got so nervous i could hardly hold the strings still, but i kept as quiet as a mouse—"
"or as a cat after a mouse!" interrupted aleck, who had come in with an armful of wood.
"—and pretty soon one little bird went right under the locker. there was another close behind him, but i was too anxious to wait, and i pulled the string, catching one and knocking the other over. it made so little noise that the rest of the flock were not alarmed, and i suppose they didn't miss the lost one, for pretty soon they began to go around the locker, and one flew right on top of it. i was afraid he would tumble it down, but he didn't, and in a minute another had gone under. but there was a third hopping right towards the paper, and so i just waited till he had run under, when—piff!—i had them both!"
"good for you, katy!" cried the delighted boys. "you'll make a sportsman yet!"
