paddle and he dived, but when he 
came up I was nearer than before. 
He dived again, but I miscalculated 
the direction he would take, and we 
were fifty rods apart when he came to 
surface this time, for I had helped to 
widen the interval; and again he 
laughed long and loud, and with more 
reason than before. He maneuvered 
so cunningly that I could not get 
within half a dozen rods of him. Each 
time, when he came to the surface, 
turning his head this way and that, he 
coolly surveyed the water and the 
land, and apparently chose his course 
so that he might come up where there 
was the widest expanse of water and 
at the greatest distance from the boat. 
It was surprising how quickly he made 
up his mind and put his resolve into 
execution. He led me at once to the 
widest part of the pond, and could not 
be' driven from it. While he was 
thinking one thing, I was endeavoring 
to divine his thought. It was a pretty 
game, played on the smooth surface of 
the pond, man against a Loon. Some 
times he would come up unexpectedly 
on the other side of me, having appar- 
ently passed directly under the boat; 
So long-winded was he and so un- 
weariable, that when he had swum 
farthest he would immediately plunge 
again, nevertheless ; and then no wit 
could divine where in the deep pond 
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 Loons have 
been caught in the New York lakes 
eighty feet beneath the surface, with 
hooks set for trout. I found that it 
was as well for me to rest on my oars 
and wait his reappearing ; for again 
and again, when I was straining my 
eyes over the surface one way, I would 
be startled by his unearthly laugh 
behind me. He was indeed a silly 
Loon, I thought, for why, after dis- 
playing so much cunning did he betray 
himself the moment he came up by 
that loud laugh? Did not his white 
breast enough betray him? It was 
surprising to see how serenely he 
sailed off with unruffled breast when 
he came to the surface, doing all the 
work with his webbed feet beneath. 
His usual note was this demoniac 
laughter, yet somewhat like that of a 
water- fowl ; but occasionally when he 
had balked me most successfully and 
he came up a long way off, he uttered 
a long-drawn, unearthly howl, prob- 
ably more like that of a Wolf than any 
bird. This was his looning, perhaps 
the wildest sound that is ever heard 
here, making the woods ring far and 
wide. At length, having come up 
fifty rods off, he uttered one of those 
prolonged howls, as if calling on the 
Gods of Loons to aid him, and imme- 
diately there came a wind from the 
east, rippled the surface, and filled the 
whole air with misty rain. And so I 
left him disappearing far away on the 
tumultuous surface." 
60 
