splendid. Keeping one eye open for owls, they 

 threw off all other caution, and swam and dived 

 and chased each other through the water, with 

 all the fun of boys in swimming. 



On the bottom of the pond about the dam, in 

 ten or twelve feet of water, was a bed of unios. 

 I knew that they were there, for I had cut my 

 feet upon them j and the muskrats knew they 

 were there, for they had had many a moonlight 

 lunch of them. These mussels the muskrats 

 reckon sweetmeats. They are hard to get, 

 hard to crack, but worth all the cost. I was 

 not surprised, then, when one of the muskrats 

 sleekly disappeared beneath the surface, and 

 came up directly with a mussel. 



There was a squabble on the plank, which 

 ended in the other muskrat's diving for a mus- 

 sel for himself. How they opened them I could 

 not clearly make out, for the shells were almost 

 concealed in their paws ; but judging from 

 their actions and the appearance of other shells 

 which they had opened, I should say that they 

 first gnawed through the big hinge at the back, 

 then pried open the valves, and ate out the 

 contents. 



[471 



