1932

May,

LORD

F

BY
GEORGE
FREDERICK
CLARKE

When they had finished it they carefully wiped their
laces and long whiskers, then, once more in single file,
'eached the lake shore, where they crouched, their
sharp eyes roving over the snow-covered surface for
aign of life—friendly or otherwise.

There was nothing. The lake, at its widest part,
was seven or eight hundred yards from shore to shore;
an the west it narrowed to a few score feet: and here,
Kewinnick remembered, was a small dead~water, which
finally became a brook. And in the dead-water, if not
n the lake itself, they would find a spring hole and trout
n abundance.

Suddenly, unheralded, the sun pushed its golden head
wer the ridge to the east, swung upward, then stepped
)fi' into the blue, like a radiant and eager god fresh from
"llS ablutions in some golden sea. And, as though during
he night some kindly geni had sprinkled star dust over
he expanse of snow, it flung back multitudinous scintills
if blue and amber and crimson.

Kewinnick flung his sinuous body down the sloping
sank, his mate following, out onto the centre of the ice
lll(l. snow-clad lake, where they circled back and forth
n search of an air hole. There was none, and the old
rtter turned his course towards the outlet, :1 half mile
listant. Corning now and then to places where the wind
rad swept the ice clear of snow, they scouted on their
iellies across its smooth surface. Then, on the other

ay given a holiday, he was Sllll'lf tide, they would again plunge through the snow. Once,

hind-quarters, rocking himscli ‘V

 

cl his eyes dancing with mw

me air pocket left hy tlw ‘~
ice had formed, he rearlirw
here.
to experience loss of ynllll
going all and matinlzr fllli"
id-falls. His provinw: H
snppeared only two .\"'"l
. But the discovery of (In
eatures the fnllowim: (1113
i old otter that she hurl fa
;. He had become :1 \\‘r|
never stopping for lam‘:
a vast network of Ialzm, :m~.
xx the Tobique. “iv “F”.
exploring the valley “l ll 
t Nacquadoglzlm “V” 1"‘ ,, ,
it mistress. Many l’1'mflll
- came, and they had If ‘
on the lake shnrr-. ‘ \'
re they could rear t.ln~ir1_\_
February their hurrn\\'V “
ups. and, after his rrilglfld .
e, Kewinnick had rlovw

journey,und tirr-snnn- W J“

v with the ynunx: 9"" “'H,
mz. But she had not‘
rswnmps. “V” '‘‘'W' 1‘i...~,

h unerring scnsr‘ “I “mm.
M the journey’ W“ T‘: ,
l-like hardwoods of IL.‘ H ,
expanse of Trot" l““.‘|\i:..'
r {at trout had their lh‘
mine as they W""“'(14.i..~
lpruces and firs W U“: ('h,.,\~,
led with the first re" p 
: hurled himself to on “W.
sad about the neck nf “[1 H‘
roke the profound ‘”.‘n N“
.red but meagrely ‘1‘"f
muaqunsh was very “‘

ll _|
.|r-un-

 

1Ili< ‘

:nming to a huge. curled-up drift, like a wave frozen
n the act of breaking, Kewinnick dove head-foremost

“'5 H5 5l"“°|15 l3°dY '" l"‘ nto it. A moment and his mate followed. The snow

mvcloped them, as, like swimmers bent on seeing how
«mg they can remain submerged. the DREW bUT|‘0W‘3d
7l'|Wfll‘El. Finally KeWinnick’s head emerged. his Wt‘
rurhcs and whiskers sparkling with snowflakes, then
‘re sprang forward. A moment
more and his mate followed.
zhook herself and let her full
black eyes rat on her lord.
Like a small boy given a

He had a death hold
. . I hold that [he
other could never break.

CANADIAN Home ]ouaNAr_

holiday, he was sitting up on his tail and hind-quarters,
rocking himself from side to side, twisting his sinuous
body in lively contortions, and his eyes dancing with
mischief. He was a beautiful creature, despite his one
fore-shortened foot, on which the long hair now replaced
the severed web. He was all of threeand-a—half feet in
length, his coat thickly fun-ed, varying from dark brown
to almost black. His head was small. the tiny ears low
down on the sides; above his sharp, pointed nose velvety
black eyes looked out on a world in which he feared no
one save the two-legged creatura. He was a king of
his race, as she was a queen.

She watched him amuserlly as he reached out his
forefeet and clasped her neck. Together they wrestled.
standing up straight, like boxers. But suddenly, as

* though she realized that such strenuous exercise were

not good for her, she gave him a playful box on the
ear, and slipping from his grasp, gave him to understand
that the play was ended. He took the hint, once more
sprang ahead of her and broke trail. Once, coming to
where rounded, dog-like tracks led across the lake,
Kewinnick paused, sniffed them, then proceeded onward.
His mate, too, bent and nosed the tracks. She knew
that they had been made by a fox, doubtless a male
searching for a mate. A flock of pine grosbeaks flew
over their heads to a mountain ash along the shore and
began to feed on the red berries. Other than these the
wilderness seemed bare of all life, the very trees motion-
l ess—s n o w -
clad spirits of
trees epitomiz-
ing theundying
mystery that
hovers over the
winter forests.

11

TH E WATERWAYS

Reaching the lower end of the lake, K-zwinnick
paused again, and raising his hndy upright lr-t his gaze
rove over the shores of the narrow dead»watcr. Then,
with a backward glance at his mate, he again flung
himself forward.

They had not gone more than fifty yards when she
saw him again pause, and gaze ahout with every evidcnm
of concern. She hastened to his side, and what she saw
caused her heart to heat a
little more rapidly, For
there, deeply indented in the
snow, were the long, snow-
shoe tracks of their age-old
enemy—man. They came
from the forest on the left,
crossed the dead~watcr, and
entered the woods again on
the right. He had passed
this way not this morning,
nor during the night, but not
later than yesterday, for
only a few of the tracks were
drifted in with snow.

With a bound the two
otters sprang across those
hated evidences of man's all-
pervading rlnminance.rounrl- ' .
ed a bend and sped along the
frozen dead-
water. For a
half mile

(Cmrlinucd
on raw’ Ml