4 THE MOOSE 



peace of the little sanctuary ; it had been the cow's 

 own island for years, and no other had ever sought 

 to contest sovereignty. Lesser creatures than 

 moose lived there too, of course, and for these the 

 cow had welcome. One and all had their uses, 

 from the industrious musk-rats, who kept the lily 

 roots free from the hampering sedge-grass cast loose 

 by the wasteful ducks, to the small black bear, who 

 had holed up on the island every winter of his life, 

 and gave his wakeful spring of each year to rooting 

 up the evil-smelling skunk cabbage. 



The lagoon cleared of ice first, melting away of 

 itself. The river next, a much slower process of 

 disintegration ; and for days after her coming the 

 cow heard the familiar sound of the great blocks 

 sweeping down stream, grinding and crashing their 

 passage to the distant sea. Sometimes an ice-jam 

 occurred, blocking the current, and soon the lagoon 

 felt the effects of the overflow, the island also, over 

 whose shores the water rose and rose, until the 

 alders and the scrub-bushes on the margin stood 

 submerged, with just a fragile branch here and 

 there waving in the breeze. Then, with a report 

 like thunder, the crush of ice would give way 

 before the fury of the pent-up stream, which, rush- 



