BRUTE NEIGHBORS* 
253 
nearest to where his will appear again. Sometimes he 
would come up unexpectedly on the opposite side of me, 
having apparently passed directly under the boat. So 
long-winded was he and so unweariable, that when he 
had swum farthest he would immediately plunge again, 
nevertheless; and then no wit could divine where in the 
deep pond, beneath the smooth surface, he might be 
speeding his way like a fish, for he had time and ability 
to visit the bottom of the pond in its deepest part. It 
is said that loons have been caught in the New York 
lakes eighty feet beneath the surface, with hooks set for 
trout, — though Walden is deeper than that. How sur¬ 
prised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from 
another sphere speeding his way amid their schools ! 
Yet he appeared to know his course as surely under 
water as on the surface, and swam much faster there. 
Once or twice I saw a ripple where he approached the 
surface, just put his head out to reconnoitre, and instant¬ 
ly dived again. I found that it was as well for me to 
rest on my oars and wait his reappearing as to endeavor 
to calculate where he would rise ; for again and again, 
when I was straining my eyes over the surface one 
way, I would suddenly be startled by his unearthly 
laugh behind me. But why, after displaying so much 
cunning, did he invariably betray himself the moment 
he came up by that loud laugh ? Did not his white 
breast enough betray him ? He was indeed a silly loon, 
I thought. I could commonly hear the plash of the 
water when he came up, and so also detected him. But 
after an hour he seemed as fresh as ever, dived as 
willingly and swam yet farther than at first. It was 
surprising to see how serenely he sailed off with unruf- 
