128 



Tfuktaeem 

 Voice-,, 



anticipation of the feast. He had missed the 

 eggs in his search ; but young loon would be 

 better, and more of it. — " There you are ! " 

 he snapped viciously, lunging at the nearest 

 loon, which flashed under water and barely 

 escaped. 



I had started up to interfere, for I had 

 grown fond of the little wild things whose 

 growth I had watched from the beginning, 

 when a great splashing began on my left, and 

 I saw the old mother bird coming like a fury. 

 She was half swimming, half flying, tearing 

 over the water at a great pace, a foamy white 

 wake behind her. — " Now, you little villain, 

 take your medicine. It 's coming ; it 's com- 

 ing," I thought excitedly, and dodged back 

 to watch. But Musquash, intent on his evil 

 doing (he has no need whatever to turn flesh- 

 eater), kept on viciously after the exhausted 

 little ones, paying no heed to his rear. 



Twenty yards away the mother bird, to my 

 great astonishment, flashed out of sight under 

 water. What could it mean! Suddenly a 

 catapult seemed to strike the muskrat from 

 beneath and lift him clear from the water. 



