leap well out of water just before taking the downward plunge. 
I heard it to excellent advantage only a fev minutes before 
I began writing these lines. If I go out of the cabin, the 
sound invariably ceases and seldom is renewed again that 
night. This leads me to conclude that the creature is rather 
shy or timid; I think it must be an Otter, Certainly it 
is something aquatic and very much larger and heavier and 
more active than a Muskrat. 
