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jaws and locked them, rigid, set, as fixed as jaws of 

 stone. 



Death had lingered cruelly. At first the animal had 

 been able to gnaw; but as the tooth curved through 

 the bones of the face and gradually tightened the 

 jaws, the creature got less and less to cat, until, one 

 day, creeping out of the burrow for food, the poor 

 wretch was unable to get back. 



One seldom comes upon the like of this. It is com- 

 moner than we think ; but it is usually hidden away 

 and quickly over. How often do we see a wild thing 

 sick, — a bird or animal suffering from an accident, or 

 dying, like this muskrat, because of some physical 

 defect.'' The struggle between two lives for life — the 

 falling of the weak as prey to the strong — is ever 

 before us; but this single-handed fight between the 

 creature and Nature is a far rarer, silenter tragedy. 

 Nature is too swift, too merciless to allow us time 

 for sympathy. It was she who taught the old Roman 

 to take away his weak and malformed offspring and 

 expose it on the hills. 



There is, at best, scarcely a fighting chance in 

 the meadow. Only strength and craft may win. The 

 muskrat with the missing tooth never enters the race 



91 



