Welikro felt like he was going crazy. He had never thought that he would be able to catch pheasants and hares like that.
Yesterday afternoon, he and Claude made more than a hundred snares and divided them into fourteen groups with ten or so snares in each group. They then placed the snares under the bushes and in the grass. Finally, they used a sturdy vine to tie the snares to the roots of the trees. Claude even added some grass seeds to the snares.
That was what Welikro thought at the time. What a joke.
But when he saw how serious Claude was at weaving the snares, he couldn't just not help out. The two of them spent nearly two hours making the snares.
When Welikro went to bed that night, he wondered if Claude would be disappointed when he found out that the snares were completely useless. How should he console him?
That was why Welikro didn't mention anything about the snares when he went to school. All he had to do was sneak a peek with Claude after school in the afternoon.
If there wasn't anything, he would help Claude wait for a hare or a pheasant just like he did the day before. He just had to make sure Claude didn't return empty-handed.
However, Borkal curiously asked Claude about his gains from the previous day's trip. Claude said that he only managed to kill a single rabbit, but he set up many traps there. He would know if there were any gains after school in the afternoon.
That piqued Borkal's and Eriksson's curiosity. The future captain didn't even care about his almost finished fishing boat and insisted on going along to take a look. Claude confidently said that the snares he set up would definitely be effective and that they would definitely find something. He didn't care about Welikro's expression as he lamented that he was boasting.
But it turned out that Welikro was wrong. It wasn't that the snares weren't effective. Rather, they were too effective.
Almost every set of traps had a harvest. Five rabbits and four pheasants had been entangled by the traps for almost a day and a night. They had struggled so hard that they were on the verge of death. They could only watch helplessly as they fell into the hands of these two-legged beasts …
Of the fourteen sets of traps, only two were in perfect condition, while the other three were in a damaged state. It was obvious that these three sets of traps had trapped the prey, but the prey had struggled with all its might and the snares had been torn apart, allowing the prey to escape.
The remaining nine sets of traps didn't disappoint him and provided him with nine prey.
Welikro looked at the musket in his hand and muttered, "If I'd known this would happen, I wouldn't have needed a musket. I could've just come here empty-handed every day to set up some snares and come here empty-handed the next day to pick up the game."
Borkal and Eriksson squatted down to help Claude untie the rabbits and pheasants from their traps before tying them up with the rope Claude brought.
All the prey did not have the strength to struggle and could only helplessly let these two-legged beasts torture them.
"Claude, how did you come to know about these snares?" Eriksson asked curiously.
"Hehe …" Claude chuckled. "That's the benefit of reading a lot.
I once read a travel book about the continent. It said that there was an island in the north of the continent where the people would lay a large net on the sand when catching seabirds and sprinkle some small fish and prawns on it to attract the seabirds to come down for a meal.
Because it was sandy ground, the seabirds landed carelessly and some of their claws even managed to pierce through the net.
The people waited for the seabirds to land before rushing over. As a result, some of the birds' claws got caught in the net and were caught by the people.
The merchants spread the news across the continent and some of the smarter hunters used the same method to catch the migratory birds.
They would lay the nets flat on the grass or on the mud and put the food that the migratory birds liked to eat on the nets. When the birds came down to eat, they would rush over. Every time, there would be one or two migratory birds whose claws were entangled in the nets and fell into the hands of the hunters.
However, this kind of trap wasn't enough for the hunters. Firstly, it cost a lot and the net would break very quickly when the prey struggled in the grass. It wasn't worth it for the hunters.
Secondly, the migratory birds learned their lesson after being caught so many times that they didn't dare to come down anymore when they saw the net on the ground.
Thirdly, it was easy for accidents to happen in the bushes and the nets would often be destroyed by large beasts.
"Later on, one of the smarter hunters tried to imitate the mesh of the net and weave it into a series of snares to catch small animals like pheasants and hares, which resulted in a great harvest.
This story was recorded in the travelogue, and it also described how to use this series of traps, so I wanted to test it yesterday. I didn't expect that what was written in the book was actually true. This series of traps is really effective against pheasants and rabbits … "
Bro, you didn't say that you were going to test it out yesterday. Instead, you looked so confident. That's why I made so many snares for you … Welikro felt that it was a pain in the ass. That was something Claude often said, but Welikro felt that it was a very apt description.
"By the way, Claude, are we going to set up more snares today?" asked Welikro.
"Hmm …" Claude muttered to himself for two seconds and looked at the five rabbits and four pheasants with their hind legs tied up. "It's still early, so let's set up more.
But we can't do it here. Don't touch the two sets of snares and just leave them here. Let's go deeper. At the very least, we have to climb over that mound and get as far away from here as possible. "
So, the four of them walked for a long time with their spoils. Looking at the gentle slope ahead, Claude finally nodded. "Let's do it here. There's a lot of shrubs and grass here. We'll definitely get more tomorrow than today."
They started looking for the thin and tough vines to weave the snares with.
"Why don't we use the ropes you brought?
They're much sturdier than the vines … "Eriksson didn't quite understand.
"If we use the ropes I brought, the rabbits and pheasants will consciously avoid those things," Claude replied.
"Don't think of the rabbits and pheasants as stupid. Even though they're really dumb, they still have some brains.
If a condom is thrown into the grass or on the ground, it will stand out from its surroundings. Rabbits and pheasants will also be able to tell that it is a foreign object, so they will be vigilant and will not approach it. "
Claude picked up a snare made of vines. "This snare was originally made here. We'll weave it into snares and place a dozen or so of them on the ground. The rabbits and pheasants won't notice it at all. They'll think that it's something that fell from the bushes or grew on the ground in the first place and step on it without any hesitation.
So as long as one of their feet or claws falls into the trap, the trap will tighten as they move forward. Then, they will be so scared that they will rush forward with all their might. As you can see, they will be exhausted and be caught by us. "
There was strength in numbers. In the end, the four of them set up more than 40 sets of snares, most of which were hidden under the bushes.
Claude inspected the snares one by one and sprinkled some grass seeds and soil on them.
The grass seeds served as bait and the soil was used to mask their scent.
"Alright, let's head back. We'll know how much we got tomorrow afternoon," said Claude with a hand on his waist.
He was exhausted from squatting and squatting to inspect so many snares. "You guys can take it yourselves. How about one hare and one pheasant each?"
Said Claude as he pointed at the rabbits and pheasants on the ground.
Borkal shook his head. "Claude, this is what you and Welikro got yesterday. The two of you should split it among yourselves. If we get anything tomorrow, it won't be too late to split it then."
Claude glared at him. "What nonsense are you spouting? We're friends. Let's split it today and talk about it tomorrow.
Besides, I won't be able to finish all of it anyway. What do you say, Welikro? "
Welikro replied in a muffled voice, "Whatever you say. There's a row of roasted ones hanging under my roof and I'm already sick of them. I don't care how much I get."
Borkal smiled bitterly. "That's not it. Claude, don't you know that Pjard of the old tavern is buying pheasants at a high price? He wants them alive and these four of yours fit his requirements."
"What's his price?" asked Claude.
"One riyas, or two more sunars, depending on the situation."
"He wants pheasants?
Does he want the rabbits? "
"Probably …" Borkal wasn't too sure. "I saw him at the back of the tavern settling a score with a mountain man. The pheasants and rabbits were caught by the mountain man's hunting dog.
He gave the mountain man one riyas for the live pheasant, but he doesn't want the dead rabbit. The mountain man said he's willing to sell it for three sunars cheaper.
Pjard shook his head and said it's fine if it's alive, but not dead. "
Three sunars for a rabbit was three yuan, while a pheasant could be sold for ten yuan. The difference was too great.
Claude looked at Welikro, who was rather understanding. "Then, let's sell them. Borkal is right. We'll split tomorrow's harvest with everyone else."
So, they spent an hour getting down the hill and out of the forest. They bumped into a carriage heading to town.
Borkal used a rabbit to get the coachman to send the four of them to the tavern.
Pjard knew Claude. Even though they didn't talk much, they had seen each other a few times.
What puzzled Pjard was how Claude managed to catch the rabbits and pheasants. They didn't look like they were hunted by hunting dogs. Even though Claude and Welikro had muskets on their backs, the rabbits and pheasants didn't have any wounds on them. They were just a little lethargic and alive.
"How about this? One riyas for each pheasant and four sunars for each rabbit. How about that?" said Pjard.
It was then that Borkal stepped in. He used the scene of Pjard buying pheasants from the mountain man to show how unreasonable and dishonest Pjard's offer was. It didn't take long for Pjard to admit his carelessness and compare Claude's animals to those hunted by hunting dogs. As an apology, Pjard took the initiative to raise the price of each pheasant by one sunar and the rabbit by one sunar.
Claude decided to close the deal and keep one rabbit to take home.
In the following month, Claude decided that he would try his best to make Morssen eat rabbit meat every day until he wanted to puke.
What Pjard didn't expect was that the next day, Claude's group of four brought him 17 pheasants and 11 rabbits. They looked just like the day before, completely unharmed and alive. The only difference was that they looked exhausted and weak.
That made Pjard wonder if the four of them were scurrying dogs that chased the pheasants all over the mountain and were only caught when they ran out of energy.
However, Pjard didn't say anything and bought all of them at the same price as the day before.
As usual, Claude brought a rabbit home.
On the third day, Claude's group of four came again. This time, they brought 11 pheasants and seven rabbits.
On the fourth day, they brought six pheasants and eight rabbits.
On the fifth day, Claude's group of four came a little late. It seemed like they were tired from the long journey. However, they brought back 14 pheasants and nine rabbits.
Pjard finally spoke. He tactfully mentioned that there were still many wild hares and pheasants in the tavern, and it took two men to feed them.
So, Pjard hoped that Claude wouldn't have to bring any more pheasants and rabbits for the time being.