The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1894-01-19
TOMS ROBBER.

1
the Black Hills.
Tom had hard time of it, for some enc
or something was forever stealing his
things, First he lost his hat, then boot,
! then a piece Of bacon. IO.is was followed
by the disappearance Of his washing ba-
sin, and there was a robbery from his
traps.
1t was perplexing in the extreme, for if
he went away even for couple Of days
and left his door open, which, by the way,
he could not avoid, having no means of
securing it on the outside, something was
quite sure to vanish.
Tom was not a capitalist, but in sum
mer he earned living by digging cellars
Cor new settlers and in winter by trap
ping. Neither was Toms house q work of
art. He had literally dug it on the top of
knoll and rooted it with sods, no that
from the outside it had very much the ap-
pearance of a large mole kill The knoll
which Tom had selected for his home was
bounded on one side by lake and on the
other side by poplar grove which abound
ed in rabbits.
In the winter Trapper Tom, as he was
Familiarity called, trusted almost entirely
to this grove to supply him with food. He
always kept several gin traps in the rabbit
runs among the red willows which grew
in profusion around the outskirts Of the
heavier timber.
One evening of sunset Tom arranged 10
traps and as usual went directly to bed
for ha OOnlA Hnrl tn ht,ry nh oil
He had been sleeping for several hours
when he was suddenly awakened by 4 sue
cession of loud cries from the direction of
the poplar grove. Believing that he must
have caught u fox in one of his rabbit
traps, Tom sprang out Of bed, put on his
pants, coat and boots, seized his spade,
which was the best weapon he possessed,
and started for the grove.
The moon was shining brightly and the
light was good for the white poplars were
not very tall, but even If this had net been
the case Tom would have experienced very
little difficulty in locating the cries On &C
count Of the persistency with which the
animal kept them up. Before he had ad
vanced so yards through tho deep snow
he found himself face to face with a Ehag-
gy coated animal.
At the trRPPer's approach the Unfortu-
nate creature turned toward him, bristling
with rage, Rad revealing quito plainly
the broad bands of brown with which ma
ture has decked the sides of the wary and
troublesome wolverine. The animal was
caught by enc Of ita hind feet in 4 sseel
trap, which in turn was secured By q shain
to a Elasll log, in nc way AaequatS to hold
30 large an animal. Fortunately, how
ever, the chain was fastened to the mid
die Of TIE leg, and tkis, ewing to the num-
ber Of GMRll tTeeG, made tAe Oacaps ct the
wolverine almost impossible.
Had TrsFpSr Tom been Arrosd with a
gun, there woald have been little merit or
little difficulty in winning the battle, but
as his ONLY weapon was 4 spade he realized
that the ooR6ict would not by any means
be one sided. Nevertheless Tom vaB no
coward, and he beEaA circiling round the
animal, watching for an opportunity to
close with it. As he walked round and
round he noticed that the wolverine also
kept turning, so he concluded to keep it
up till the animal had twisted the chain
into a knot.
AS Tom kept circling and the animal
kept turning the chain kept getting short
uhIll bLlo dhlhldl y lex Was uTA WI ClOSG
to the log. This was the desired opportu-
nifty, and Tom rushed in and dealt his cap
tive violent blow with the blade Of the
spade.
In attempting to avoid second attack,
however, the wounded animal Eprang
back and pulled the steel spring Of the
trap so violently against the log that the
jaws flew open and set it free.
Instead of running away, the half SUN
ned and maddened wolverine glared for one
moment at its assailant and then sDrang
open mouthcd at his throat.
Tom leaped behind friendly poplar
just in time to avoid the attack, and as
the animal passed he dealt it second
blow, this time on the back, but in doing
SO he lost his balance and stumbled for
ward into the deep snow.
Before he could regain his feet the ami
NAL was upon him, and he found himself
engaged in hand to hand struggle with
the savage creature. 1t seized his heav-
lily coated arm in its teeth and commenced
striking at him with its muscular hind
legs, which, being armed with heavy claws,
would have inflicted terrible wounds had
they been able to get in their work.
With his free hand Trapper Tom grip
ped the animal by the throat and COM
pressed its windpipe until it released his
arm. Then he thrust it over upon its
back into the loosened snow and with both
hands tried to strangle it. In this he
might have been successful had not the
strugglinf. animal just at the supreme mo-
ment struck him squarely in the chest.
The blow staggered Tom and caused
him to relax his hold, when the animal,
finding itself once more free, sprang to its
feet and prepared to renew the attack,
The young man grabbed the spade,
which lay beside him, and quickly scram-
bled to his feet Then for one moment
man and beast stood confronting each 9th
sr, silent, watchful and desperate.
But the wolverine was nearly disabled
Its hind limbs appeared to be half para
lyzed, and it was soon evident to Tom that
80 far he had had much the best of the
fight. Without waiting for attack, there
fore, he lifted his spade and stepped for
ward TO deliver the blow of mercy Just
rs the spade fell, however, the animal
threw itself forward and instead of receiv-
ing the blow upon the head received it
hpon its back.
Before Trapper Tom could recover his
balance the wolverine seized his leg, and
the next instant he felt the agony of its
teeth.
Again he lifted his spade, clutching it
with both hands, and brought it down