Page:Barbour--Metipoms Hostage.djvu/20

Rh common, the latter flying in flocks of many hundreds. Geese, swans, ducks, and cranes and many smaller birds frequented streams  and marshes, and there were trout in the  brooks and bass, pickerel, and perch in the  ponds. At certain seasons the alewives ascended the streams in thousands and were literally scooped from the water to be used as fertilizer.

There was, therefore, no dearth of flesh for food nor skins for clothing so long as one  could shoot a gun, set a trap, or drop a hook. Of traps David had many, and the south end of the house was never without several skins  in process of curing. Larger game had fallen to his prowess, for he had twice shot a bear  and once a panther: the skins of these lay  on the floor in evidence. He was a good shot, but there was scant virtue in that at a time  when the use of the musket, both for hunting  and for defense against the Indians, was universal amongst the settlers. Rather, he prided himself on his skill in the making of  traps and snowshoes and such things as were  needed about the house. He had clever hands for such work. He could draw, too, not very skillfully, but so well that Obid could distinguish at the first glance which was the pig