Part 18 (1/2)
The canoe kept close along the shore for guidance, as one feels one's way along a wall in the dark The channel, moreover, was deep and clear in shore; while out under the mist the soft noises of ripples proclaimed to the ears of the two canoeists the presence of frequent rock and snag and shallow Lest they should run upon unseen dangers ahead, the canoeists were travelling very slowly, the bow-unwales before hi like the fin of a trout, did no more than keep his craft to her course and let her run with the current
Down along the shore, keeping just behind the canoe and close to the water's edge, followed a s eyes, bead-black with a glint of red behind thee curiosity upon the canoes, and a sharp, triangular head As it ran--and its movements were as soundless and effortless as those of a snake--it huested a snake's coils
It see the canoe out of sheer curiosity--a curiosity, however, which was probably wellthat it was the curiosity of aon the water were, of course, too large and for them; but he could wonder at them and hate theht not arise? Stealthy, wary, and bold, he kept his distance about eight or ten feet froined himself unseen As a matter of fact, however, the steerser even than he, had detected hi hie ain curiosity, was a phenomenon to be watched and studied with care The canoeist did not take his comrade in the bow into his confidence for some minutes, lest the sound of the human voice should daunt the animal But presently, in a monotonous, rhythmic htened its interest, he called the situation to his co to see, kept watch through half-closed lids
A little way down the shore, close to the water's edge, soainst the soft browns and dark greys of the wet soil, the object fairly shone in its whiteness, and see, either dropped there by a careless hen from the pioneer's cabin near by, or left by a ot there, it was an egg; and the canoeists saw that they no longer held the mink's undivided attention Gently the steersman sheered out a few feet farther from the bank, and at the same time checked the canoe's headway He wanted to see how thelay at the foot of a little path which led down the bushy bank to the water--a path evidently trodden by the pioneer's cattle Down this path, stepping daintily and turning his long inquisitive nose and big, bright, mischievous eyes from side to side, came a raccoon He was a s heavier by reason of his more stocky build and bushi+er, looser fur
His purpose was to fish or hunt frogs in the pool at the foot of the path; but when he saw the egg gleah thesummer passed in proximity to the pioneer's cabin had enabled hiood He hastened his steps, and with a sliding scramble, which attracted the attention of the e But to his indignant astonishment he was not the first to arrive
The , laid one paw upon it in possession, and turned with a snarl of defiance as the raccoon ca fangs and aiety which the raccoon carries into the most serious affairs of his life, and particularly into his battles, he ran to the encounter The erly interested, stole nearer to referee the match
Quick as the raccoon was, his snake-like adversary was quicker
Doubling back upon hierous rush, and with a lightning snap fixed hold upon his enemy's neck But it was not, by half an inch, the hold he wanted; and his long, deadly teeth sank not, as he had planned, into the foe's throat, but into the great tough o to try for the deadlier hold, but locked his jaws and whipped his long body over the other's back, hoping to evade his antagonist's teeth
The raccoon had lost the first point, and his large eyes blazed with pain and anger But his dauntless spirit was not in the least dis hiht his enemy's slirip, and under the stress of it theon with locked jaws, rolled over into the water, s as they fell The canoe, now close beside them, they heeded not at all
”Two to one on the htedly But the steersman smiled, and said ”Wait!”
To be in the water suited the h A hunter of fish in their holes, he was almost as much at home in the water as a fish But the raccoon it did not suit at all With a splutter he relinquished his hold on the o and snapped again for the throat But again he miscalculated the alertness of the raccoon's sturdy muscles The latter had turned his head the instant that the nashed teeth in each other's faces, neither securing a hold The nextin threatening readiness as he did so
Though there was no longer anything to fight about, the , black shape looked very fit and dangerous, and his whole appearance was that of vindictive fury The raccoon, on the other hand, though bedraggled fro the whole affair too ed When the ht as a snake strikes, he met the attack with a curious little pirouette; and the next instant the tere once rapple
It was some moments before the breathless watchers in the canoe could e, so closely were the grey body and the black intertwined Then it was seen that the raccoon was using his flexible, hand-like paws as a bear ht, to hold his foe down to the punish freely; but theslohile the raccoon was as cheerfully alert as ever At length the mink tore loose and made one more desperate reach for his favourite throat-hold But this time it was the raccoon who avoided He danced aside, flashed back, and caught thehiht And in a htened out limply amid the sand and dead leaves
When the body was quite still the raccoon let go and stood over it expectantly for so that this treatment elicited no retort, suffered hihly pleased, he skipped back and forth over the body, playfully seized it with his fore-paws, and bundled it up into a heap
Then seeretfully at the cru-shell His expression of disappointment was so ludicrous that in spite of thehter
As the harsh, incongruous sound startled the white stillnesses, in the lifting of an eyelid the little conqueror vanished One of the canoeists stepped ashore, picked up the body of the slain mink, and threw it into the canoe As the two resumed their paddles and slipped away into the -place on the bank two bright, indignant eyes were peering after the Bear
Soft, wet and tender, with a faint green fil thehad co in the backwoods Froe, across the road from the cabin and the straw-littered barn-yard, ca that --the thrilling, s
The sun was just withdrawing his uppermost rim behind the far-off black horizon line of fir-tops The cabin door stood wide open to admit the sweet air and the sweet sound Just inside the door sat old Mrs Griffis, rocking heavily, while the woollen sock which she was knitting lay forgotten in her lap She was a strong-featured, our, whom rheumatism had met and halted in the busy path of life Her keen and restless eyes were following eagerly every irl in a blue cotton waist and grey hoetting her little flock of sheep penned up for the night for fear of wild prowlers
Presently the girl sla into the staple, ran her fingers nervously through the pale fluff of her hair, and ca across the yard to the door with a s face
”_There_, Granny!” she exclaiot a nuuess no lynxes, or nothing, 'll get the sheep to-night, anyways Now, I ets too dark I don't see what's made her wander off to-day She always sticks around the barn close as a burr!”
The old wo that the survival of a wild instinct in the cow had led her to seek so-place, near home but secluded, wherein to secrete her new-born calf
”I guess old 'Spotty' knows enough to coets ready, Child!” she answered ”She's been kept that close all winter, the snow bein' so deep, I don't wonder she wants to roait 'round Land sakes, I wish't _I_ could roam a bit, 'stead er sittin', sittin', an' knittin', knittin',of these 'ere useless old legs of irl, softly, tears coet 'round, the two of us, in these sweet-sether! Couldn't you just try now, Granny? I believe you are goin' to walk all right again some day, just as well as any of us Do try!”