THE MUSKRATS ARE BUILDING 63 



Now the November rains have filled river and / 

 ditch, flooded the tunnels, and crept up into the I 

 beds under the tussocks. Even a muskrat will creep ! 

 out of his bed when cold, wet water creeps in. t 

 What shall he do for shelter? He knows. And long'vj 

 before the rains begin, he picks out the place for aV 

 house. He does not want to leave his meadow, there- 1 

 fore the only thing to do is to build, move from/ 

 under the tussock out upon the top of the tussock ;k, 

 fl .land here, in its deep, wiry grass, make a new bed highj! 

 ' and dry above the rising water ; and close this new^ \ 

 j bed in with walls that circle and dome, and defy the r 

 \ very winter. 



\ Such a house will require a great deal of work 

 I to build. Why should not two or three muskratsj 

 5 combine make the house big enough to holdj 

 \ them all, save labor and warmth, too, and, withal, 

 I live sociably together? So they left, each one his! 

 single bed, and, joining efforts, started, about the! 



' 



j middle of October, to build this winter house. 



Slowly, night after night, the domed walls have 

 (been rising, although for several nights at a time 1 

 (could see no apparent progress with the work. The 

 | builders were in no hurry. The cold was far off. But 

 it is coming, and to-night it feels near and keen. 

 And to-night there is no loafing about the lodge. 



When this house is done, when the last hod of 

 mud plaster has been laid on, then the rains may 

 descend and the floods come, but it will not fall. It 



ft \~^ 



