EYE-BEAMS 115 



of view, -which I fancied might be a squirrel. 

 Presently I heard the bay of a hound and the yelp 

 of a cur, and then knew that a rabbit had passed 

 near me. The dogs came hurrying after, with a 

 great rumpus, and then presently the hunters fol- 

 lowed. The dogs remained barking not many rods 

 south of me on the edge of the swamp, and I knew 

 the rabbit had run to hole. For half an hour or 

 more I heard the hunters at work there, digging 

 their game out; then they came along and discov- 

 ered me at my work. (An old trapper and woods- 

 man and his son.) I told them what I was in 

 quest of. "A mountain weasel," said the old man. 

 "Seven or eight years ago I used to set deadfalls 

 for rabbits just over there, and the game was always 

 partly eaten up. It must have been this weasel 

 that visited my traps." So my game was evidently 

 an old resident of the place. This swamp, maybe, 

 had been his hunting-ground for many years, and 

 he had added another hall to his dwelling each year. 

 After further digging, I struck at least one of his 

 banqueting halls, a cavity about the size of one's 

 hat, arched over by a network of fine tree-roots. 

 The occupant evidently lodged or rested here also. 

 There was a warm, dry nest, made of leaves and the 

 fur of mice and moles. I took out two or three 

 handfuls. In finding this chamber I had followed 

 one of the tunnels around till it brought me within 

 a foot of the original entrance. A few inches to one 

 side of this cavity there was what I took to be a 

 back alley where the weasel threw his waste; there 



