228 
MUSKRATS 
behind two long, trailing ripples that steadily widen 
and recede, shedding gleams of silver where the 
water had been invisible in the shadows ♦ 
On he comes steadily, his head strained rigidly 
forward and barely above the surface* Now he is so 
close that his little, beady eyes can be seen in the 
moonlight. Splash ! The round of his back and his 
snake-like tail appear for a moment above the surface 
as he disappears, leaving the quivering ripples to seek 
the black distance in widening and widening circles. 
Another appears swimming steadily and smoothly 
toward the irregular house that has just been erected 
on the opposite shore. He seems to revel in the 
stillness and the joy of being alive. On the shore his 
saturated fur glistens in the moonlight. He mounts 
the house, quietly enjoying a feeling of proprietorship. 
A feast of clams has tempted him, for the sound of 
the cracking shells comes across the lagoon. Mirrored 
in the water and catching the faint light of the 
sinking moon, what more ecstatic situation could any 
creature discover or devise i It makes one long for 
the fulfilment of the oriental faith in the transmigra- 
tion of a spirit to taste the joy of the silent moonlight 
on the glassy surface of the lagoon. 
The Muskrat houses are a relief in the frozen 
desolation of the marshes in winter. Rising from the 
ice, rough, irregular piles of frozen weeds, catching 
little drifts of light snow that fill up the open masses 
