THE MINK 



breaking the reflections lengthening out 

 behind him. 



Of all swimmers that breathe the free 

 air none can compare with him in swift- 

 ness and in a grace that is the smooth 

 and even flow of the poetry of motion. 

 Now he dives, or rather vanishes from 

 the surface, nor reappears till his wake 

 has almost flickered out. 



His voyage accomplished, he at once 

 sets forth on exploration of new shores 

 or progress through his established do- 

 main, and vanishes from sight before 

 his first wet footprints have dried on the 

 warm rock where he landed. 



You are glad to have seen him, thank- 

 ful that he lives, and you hope that, 

 sparing your chickens and your share of 

 trout, partridges, and wild ducks, he too 

 may be spared from the devices of the 

 trapper to fill his appointed place in the 

 world's wildness. 



26 



