A TORPEDO IN FEATHERS 155 



seasons. They set a big purse-seine right 

 across the channel, and, worst of all, they 

 dragged the deep dark pools, wherein, now 

 that the waters were growing warmer under 

 the mid-June sun, the biggest trout and 

 " togue " were wont to gather for coolness. 

 Their own thought was to get their larder 

 well stocked with salted fish against the 

 coming winter. Future winters might look 

 out for themselves. 



For some time the great loon, though 

 more enterprising and wide-ranging than 

 his prudent mate, had kept careful distance 

 from the nets and net-stakes, as from all the 

 other visible manifestations of man. But 

 at last he grew accustomed to the tall im- 

 movable stakes in the channel which sup- 

 ported the purse-seine. He concluded that 

 they were harmless, or even impotent, and 

 decided to investigate them. 



As he approached, the dim meshes of the 

 net, shimmering vaguely in the bright water, 

 excited his suspicions. He sheered off warily 

 and swam around the seine at a prudent dis- 

 tance. At last he found the opening. There 

 seemed to be no danger anywhere in sight, so, 

 after some hesitation, he sailed in. The 

 ordered curving rows of the stakes, the top 

 line of the net, beaded with a few floats, here 



