hear a smothered plunk, plunk, plunk, as one 

 after another dives out of bed into the water 

 below. 



The moon climbed higher up the sky and the 

 minutes ran on to ten o'clock. We waited. 

 The night was calm and still, and the keen, 

 alert air brought every movement of the wild 

 life about us to our ears. The soft, cottony 

 footfalls of a rabbit, hopping leisurely down the 

 moonlit path, seemed not unlike the echoing 

 steps on silent, sleeping streets, as some traveler 

 passes beneath your window ; a wedge of wild 

 geese honked far over our heads, holding their 

 mysterious way to the South ; white-footed mice 

 scurried among the dried leaves ; and our ears 

 were so sharpened by the frosty air that we 

 caught their thin, wiry squeaks. 



Presently there was a faint plash among the 

 muskrat houses. The village was waking up. 

 Uncle Jethro poked the long nose of his gun 

 cautiously through the bushes, and watched. 

 Soon there was a wake in one of the silvery 

 roads, then a parting of waves, and stemming 

 silently and evenly toward us, we saw the 

 round, black head of a muskrat. 

 [178] 



