36 Wilderness Ways. 



Grabbing a handful of figs, and some pilot bread from 

 the cracker box, I paddled away after the otter ; for 

 that is an animal which one has small chance to watch 

 nowadays. Besides, I had found a den over near the 

 brook, and I wanted to find out, if possible, how a 

 mother otter teaches her young to swim. For, though 

 otters live much in the water and love it, the young 

 ones are afraid of it as so many kittens. So the 

 mother 



But I must tell about that elsewhere. I did not 

 find out that day ; for the young were already good 

 swimmers. I watched the den two or three hours 

 from a good hiding place, and got several glimpses 

 of the mother and the little ones. On the way back 

 I ran into a little bay where a mother shelldrake was 

 teaching her brood to dive and catch trout. There 

 was also a big frog there that always sat in the same 

 place, and that I used to watch. Then I thought of 

 a trap, two miles away, which Simmo had set, and went 

 to see if Nemox, the cunning fisher, who destroys 

 the sable traps in winter, had been caught at his 

 own game. So it was afternoon, and I was hungry, 

 when I paddled back to camp. It occurred to me 

 suddenly that Killooleet might be hungry too ; for 

 I had neglected to feed him. He had grown sleek 

 and comfortable of late, and never went insect hunt- 



