PREFACE. BOOKS of hunting and trapping adventure for the young are subpedundaut. But whence do most of them derive their inspiration Certainly not from nature. The toils and privations which are the certain and continuous daily incidents of such a life are usually glazed over or ignored altogether, while purely imaginary, or at best very infrequent, cases of good-fortune are grouped together and follow one another as though of every-day occurrence. The impression so produced on the minds of the young is an absolutely false impression. That it is pernicious as all, the police records of every large city bear witness. hardly a week passes in which lads, beguiled by such books, are not arrested on their way to kill Indians and hunt buffaloes in the far West. This book is the outcome of a suggestion that a story truthfully portraying the actual life of the hunter and trapper would be timely. The author has succeeded or failed in his purpose, in the exact proportion in which he succeeds or fails in impressing on the minds of his readers the truth that a special education is as necessary to a life in the wilderness as it is to navigate that other wilderness-the boundless ocean...... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.