Having finished this first course of big-neck 

 clams, they were joined by a third muskrat, 

 and, together, they filed over the bank and 

 down into the meadow. Shortly two of them 

 returned with great mouthfuls of the mud- 

 bleached ends of calamus-blades. Then fol- 

 lowed the washing. 



They dropped their loads upon the plank, 

 took up the stalks, pulled the blades apart, and 

 soused them up and down in the water, rubbing 

 them with their paws until they were as clean 

 and white as the whitest celery one ever ate. 

 What a dainty picture ! Two little brown 

 creatures, humped on the edge of a plank, 

 washing calamus in moonlit water ! 



One might have taken them for half-grown 

 coons as they sat there scrubbing and munching. 

 Had the big barred owl, from the gum-swamp 

 down the creek, come along then, he could 

 easily have bobbed down upon them, and might 

 almost have carried one away without the other 

 knowing it, so all-absorbing was the calamus- 

 washing. 



Muskrats, like coons, will wash what they 

 eat, whether washing is needed or not. It is a 

 [48] 



