178 TRAPPING UP LITTLE OTTER 



among new alder thickets, and if a muskrat dwells 

 there, it is only some solitary hermit who has 

 wandered far from his fellows in search of a safer 

 and quieter retreat. 



I have heard of the place two or three times 

 in connection with enormous blacksnakes which 

 were seen there by people passing on the highway. 

 A friend of mine killed one which measured eight 

 feet in length. I do not know whether these 

 snakes were the common water snake which is fre- 

 quent in all our waters, though rarely so large, or 

 the blacksnake common enough south of us, but 

 almost unknown here. Fortunately for our peace 

 of mind. Burton's Pond had not gained a snaky 

 reputation at the time of our brief sojourn, in 

 which case it might have been briefer. 



Getting our boats afloat at the place of our pre- 

 vious debarkation, with nothing to detain us, we 

 voyaged merrily down the narrow stream, now 

 with newly turned-out kine staring at the strange 

 apparition of bodiless human heads gliding past, 

 now disturbing again our old acquaintances — 

 the heron, the ducks and the woodchucks — and 

 so after a little to the head of the long rapids above 

 the old forge of the Boston Company. Joe and I 

 ran our boat ashore without a thought of running 

 the rapids, for though they were smooth enough 

 at the head, white water showed below and there 

 was an ominous roar that threatened danger. By 



