noon
It was sprung , and there was no bait . Trap after trap he visited , and all of them he found sprung , and all without bait . He sniffed the air suspiciously , striving vainly to catch the tang of smoke , a whiff of the man smell . Along toward noon he came to the `` nest '' -- the twelve treacherous traps waiting for him with gaping jaws half a foot under the blanket of snow . For a full minute he stood well outside the danger line , sniffing the air , and listening . He saw the rabbit , and his jaws closed with a hungry click . He moved a step nearer .