Memories 



was lifted, weasel-fashion, to thrice its ordinary 

 length; at the end of it her pointed head swung 

 like a vane to the bank, to the pond, to the bank 

 again; while her busy nose wiggled out its sharp 

 questions. Probably she had no notion of man, 

 never having met the creature ; neither did she as- 

 sociate the motionless figure above her with life or 

 danger. She passed directly over one of my shoes, 

 halted with her paws raised against the other, and 

 scampered on as if she had no use for such trifles. 

 Before the little ones arrived I half turned to 

 meet them, spreading my feet so as to leave a 

 narrow passageway between the heels; and over 

 this, as a cover, rested my hand, making a shadowy 

 runway such as minks like. When the kits en- 

 tered it, sleek and glossy and half grown, I touched 

 them lightly on the neck, feeling the soft brush 

 of fur and the ripple of elastic muscles as one after 

 another glided under my finger, with no more 

 concern than if it had been one of the roots 

 among which they were accustomed to creep. 

 But when the last one came I blocked the runway 

 by placing a hand squarely across it, stopping him 

 short in great astonishment. He sniffed at the 

 obstruction, and his nose was like a point of ice 

 as it wandered over my palm. Then he tried a 

 finger with his teeth, wriggled under it to follow 

 his leader, and the whole family disappeared in a 



[285] 



