The Autocrat of the Eddy. 45 



For eleven months and one week in 

 every year the hemlock, the boulder, the 

 eddy, and the trout are inseparable ; but 

 when in the late September days the squeal- 

 ing wood-duck paddles among the float- 

 ing dead leaves with his pretty red feet, 

 and the muskrat with thickening fur dives 

 under the boulder in search of a winter 

 home, the trout has departed. 



Then it is that one can hear inquiring 

 voices among the brook sounds if he will 

 sit quietly and not disturb the nymphs. 

 Under the hemlock's roots the voices are 

 low and congratulatory. The nymphs 

 there know the old rascal too well to wish 

 him back again, but they seem afraid 

 to speak much above a whisper, and they 

 hardly dare inquire for news among their 

 neighbors in the rocks ; but every now 

 and then a sprightly voice from up stream 

 or from down stream will call impatiently 

 for an answer from the eddy. An up- 

 stream sprite asks if a mink has caught the 

 trout, and softly comes an answer, saying 

 that the trout has learned by experience 

 to lie so near the bottom that a mink can- 



