128 EYE-BEAMS 



V. A FRIGHTENED MINK 



In walking through the woods one day in 

 early winter, we read upon the newly fallen 

 snow the record of a mink's fright the night 

 before. The mink had been traveling through 

 the woods post-haste, not along the water- 

 courses where one sees them by day, but over 

 ridges and across valleys. We followed his 

 track some distance to see what adventures he 

 had met with. We tracked him through a 

 bushy swamp, saw where he had left it to 

 explore a pile of rocks, then where he had 

 taken to the swamj) again, then to the more 

 open woods. Presently the track turned 

 sharply about, and doubled upon itself in long 

 hurried strides. What had caused the mink 

 to change its mind so suddenly ? We explored 

 a few paces ahead, and came upon a fox track. 

 The mink had seen the fox stalking stealthily 

 through the woods, and the sight had probably 

 brought his heart into his mouth. I think he 

 climbed a tree, and waited till the fox passed. 

 His track disappeared amid a clump of hem- 

 locks, and then reappeared again a little be- 

 yond them. It described a big loop around, 

 and then crossed the fox track only a few yards 

 from the point where its course was inter- 

 rupted. Then it followed a little watercourse, 

 went under a rude bridge in a wood-road, then 

 mingled with squirrel tracks in a denser part of 

 the thicket. If the mink met a muskrat or 

 a rabbit in his travels, or came upon a grouse, 



