THE WEASEL , 73 



within twenty feet of us, and disappeared be- 

 hind some rocks on the bank at the edge of the 

 swamp. " He is carrying food into his den," I 

 said ; " let us watch him." In four or five 

 minutes he reappeared, coming back over the 

 course along which he had just passed, running 

 over and under the same stones and down the 

 same decayed log, and was soon out of sight in 

 the swamp. We had not moved, and evidently 

 he had not noticed us. After about six minutes 

 we heard the same rustle as at first, and in a 

 moment saw the weasel coming back with another 

 mouse in his mouth. He kept to his former route 

 as if chained to it, making the same pauses and 

 gestures, and repeating exactly his former move- 

 ments. He disappeared on our left as before, 

 and, after a few moments' delay, reemerged and 

 took his course down into the swamp again. We 

 waited about the same length of time as before, 

 when back he came with another mouse. He 

 evidently had a big crop of mice down there 

 amid the bogs and bushes, and he was gather- 

 ing his harvest in very industriously. We be- 

 came curious to see exactly where his den was, 

 and so walked around where he had seemed to 

 disappear each time, and waited. He was as 

 punctual as usual, and was back with his game 

 exactly on time. It happened that we had stopped 



