THE CURRENT OF MUSKETAQU1D. 103 



the silent monster slipping past them on the 

 lake. There, a shy grouse with ruff wide spread 

 watched us a moment from beneath a proud 

 oak's shade, and then tiptoed away cackling her 

 alarm until the shelter of the great boll gave 

 her a chance to fly. Above, a red-shouldered 

 hawk mewed, and glass in hand we saw him and 

 his mate rise hundreds of feet into the sky, until 

 one was lost in spinning motes of light, and the 

 other, setting her wings, sped down the chute of 

 sky miles away in the northeast. At last, best 

 of all, on the eastern edge of the meadows sev- 

 eral snow-white specks were seen upon the water. 

 " Sheldrakes," whispered my companion. They 

 were a quarter of a mile away, but seemed to 

 have seen or heard us, for they were restless. 

 Several times one of the males rose in the water 

 and flapped his wings. Then all took wing and 

 made four or five spirals in the air, ending by 

 disappearing behind a distant growth of birches. 

 " There is a pond in there," said my friend, 

 " with flooded meadows which lead to it." Keep- 

 ing perfect silence we paddled swiftly across the 

 dancing water to the opposite shore. There the 

 groves opened for us, and a narrow belt of shal- 

 lows led into an inner meadow. The ducks were 

 not in it. Crossing it, another opening was found 

 leading to a third lake. As we entered this 

 strait I caught an alder bough, and held the 



