HUNTING THE SNOW 13 



pack, that, striking the wallowy path of a muskrat 

 in the middle of the meadow, we took up the new 

 scent to see what the shuffling, cowering water-rat 

 wanted from across the snow. 



A man is known by the company he keeps, by the 

 way he wears his hat, by the manner of his laugh ; 

 and among the wild animals nothing tells more of 

 character than their manner of moving. You can 

 read animal character as easily in the snow as you 

 can read act and direction. 



The timidity, the indecision, the lack of purpose, 

 the restless, meaningless curiosity of this muskrat 

 were evident from the first in the starting, stopping, 

 returning, going-on track he had plowed out in the 

 thin snow. 



He did not know where he was going or what he 

 was going for ; he knew only that he insisted upon 

 going back, but all the while kept going on ; that 

 he wanted to go to the right or to the left, yet kept 

 moving straight ahead. 



We came to a big wallow in the snow, where, in 

 sudden fear, he had had a fit at the thought of 

 something that might not have happened to him 

 had he stayed at home. Every foot of the trail 

 read, " He would if he could ; if he could n't, how 

 could he ? " 



We followed him on, across a dozen other trails, 

 for it is not every winter night that the muskrat's 

 feet get the better of his head, and, willy-nilly, take 



