THE MINK 



trunks of elms, or in the hollow boles of 

 old water maples, and hidden pathways 

 through fallen trees and under low green 

 arches of ferns. 



With such a home and such bountiful 

 provision for his larder close at hand, 

 what more could the heart and stomach 

 of mink desire ? Yet he may not be sat- 

 isfied, but longs for the wider waters of 

 the lake, whose translucent depths reveal 

 to him all who swim beneath him, fry in- 

 numerable ; perch displaying their scales 

 of gold, shiners like silver arrows shot 

 through the green water, the lesser bass 

 peering out of rocky fastnesses, all attain- 

 able to this daring fisher, but not his 

 great rivals, the bronze-mailed bass and 

 the mottled pike, whose jaws are wide 

 enough to engulf even him. 



Here, while you rest on your idle oar 

 or lounge with useless rod, you may see 

 him gliding behind the tangled net of 

 cedar roots, or venturing forth from a 

 cranny of the rocks down to the brink, 

 and launching himself so silently that 

 you doubt whether it is not a flitting 

 shadow till you see his noiseless wake 

 25 



