I crawled back through the hole in the 

 roof and began to search the big yard 

 carefully. If Mooween had carried anything 

 outside, it would be found not far away; 

 and there is a keen interest, for me at least, 

 in finding anything that the Wood Folk have 

 touched or handled. The alder stick that 

 the beaver cut yesterday, or the little mud 

 pie that his paws have patted smooth; the 

 knot that the young coons have used as a 

 plaything in their den to beguile the hours 

 when their mother was away; the tree 

 against which two or three bears have 

 measured and scratched their height; the 

 log where the grouse drums; the discarded 

 horn of a moose; the track of an unknown 

 beast; the old den of a lucivee, in all 

 these things, and a thousand more, there 

 is I know not what fascination that draws 

 me a mile out of my course just to stand 

 for a moment where wild little feet have 

 surely passed and to read the silent records 

 they have left behind them. 



In front of the camp door was a huge pile 

 of chips where the lumbermen had chopped 



