ton's Pond, the little wood-walled lake whicli 

 falls over a dam into the wide meadows along 

 Cohansey Creek. 



It is a wild, secluded spot, so removed that a 

 pair of black ducks built their nest for several 

 springs in the deep moss about the upper shore. 



It is shallow and deeply crusted over with 

 lily-pads and pickerel-weed, except for a small 

 area about the dam, where the water is deep 

 and clear. There are many stumps in the 

 upper end ; and here, in the shallows, built 

 upon the hummocks or anchored to the sub- 

 merged roots, are the muskrats' houses. 



The big moon was rising over the meadows 

 as we tucked ourselves snugly out of sight in a 

 clump of small cedars on the bank, within easy 

 range of the dam and commanding a view of 

 the whole pond. The domed houses of the 

 muskrats — the village numbered six homes — 

 showed plainly as the moon came up ; and 

 when the full flood of light fell on the still sur- 

 face of the pond, we could see the "roads" of 

 the muskrats, like narrow channels, leading 

 down through the pads to the open space about 

 the dam. 



[172] 



