Robin Hood's Barn 



are watching, and the birds stand together, dusky 

 silhouettes among the sedges, until they fade 

 to phantoms in the twilight. 



If, on the other hand, the tide is high, their 

 place is taken by the muskrat. I have never 

 known the secret of his swims. Is he washed out 

 of his hole by the slow rise of the tide that seeps 

 little by httle into the stone wall, or does he come 

 out for diversion? Leisurely he moves as though 

 his exercise were pastime, now lost to view 

 among the tussocks of long grass, now barging 

 his way among the floatage. Sometimes when 

 the drift clogs the channel, he will clamber out 

 upon the bank, dragging his flat naked tail be- 

 hind him, and throwing off the water in dense 

 spray, will sit there busily working his small paws 

 at furbishing his whiskers. A solemn business 

 that, and one that calls for gravity. 



Despite the sobriety with which he poUshes his 

 snout, his eyes have a twinkle, as though a clown 

 at heart, he made a conscious joke of aU efforts 

 spent at foppishness. You would not think to 

 see him sitting there so comfortably on his plump 

 quarters that he could vanish easily. But an in- 



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