AMONG THE MUSKRAT LODGES 



not let the cold wind enter. It is as snug 

 and safe a place as any one could devise. 

 An enemy must break through from 

 without and long before he can smash 

 the frozen walls Mussascus has slipped 

 into the water and gone his way beneath 

 the ice, first to another tepee, or if driven 

 from that on again to his burrows in the 

 hard bank a thousand feet away. 



Bending my ear close to the nearest 

 lodge I rapped sharply on the rough wall 

 and listened. There was no sound. 

 Again I rapped and my knock was all 

 that disturbed the silence within. Out- 

 side the frozen marsh grasses sawed 

 silkily one on another and the frost crys- 

 tals that the wind was sweeping from the 

 thick white ice shrilled infinitesimally as 

 they slid by, but no sound came from the 

 lodge. Evidently no one was at home. 

 At the next lodge it was different. The, 



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