119 



shoulder to see Hukweem come down ; which 



he would do at a terrific pace, striking the 



water with a mighty splash, and shooting half 7fuAic/eem 



across the lake in a smother of white, before he tt^- -^^^i, 



could get his legs under him and turn around. 



Then all the loons would gather round him, 



cackling, shrieking, laughing, with such a 



din as the little loon never heard in his life 



before ; and he would go off in the midst of 



them, telling them, no doubt, what a mighty 



thing it was to come down from so high and 



not break his neck. 



Later in the fall I saw those same loons 

 do an astonishing thing. For several even- 

 ings they had been keeping up an unusual 

 racket in a quiet bay, out of sight of my 

 camp. I asked Simmo what they were doing. 

 — " O, I don' know ; playin' game, I guess, 

 jus' like one boy. Hukweem do dat some- 

 time, wen he not hongry," said Simmo, going 

 on with his bean-cooking. That excited my 

 curiosity ; but when I reached the bay it was 

 too dark to see what they were playing. 



One evening, while I was fishing, the 

 racket was different from any I had heard 



