Since there were only two or three inches of snow on the ground, they did not have to use snowshoes and hoped therefore that they should return by evening.
They found the first trap on Stoss Pond and from there followed the line without much difficulty, for Daddy Goss had made a trail by spotting trees with his hatchet.

Moreover, the marten traps were "boxed" into spruce-trees at a height of two or three feet from the ground and could easily be seen.
There is an old saying among trappers that nothing catches game like a neglected trap; and that time at least the adage was correct.

The boys found a marten in the second trap and found others at frequent intervals.

What was remarkable, they found three minks, two ermines and a fisher in traps on high, hilly forest land.

I think the old Squire once said that they took nineteen martens from the traps, of which there were one hundred and two.
The boys soon found themselves loaded down with fur.