In the silver-grey between dawn and sunrise the river was filled with
mist from bank to bank. It coiled and writhed and rolled, here
thinning, there thickening, as if breathed upon irregularly by
innumerable unseen mouths. But there was no wind astir; and the
brown-black, glistening current beneath the white folds was glassy
smooth save where the occasional big swirls boiled up with a swishing
gurgle, or the running wave broke musically around an upthrust
shoulder of rock or a weedy snag. The river was not wide--not more
than fifty yards from bank to bank; but from the birch canoe slipping
quietly down along one shore, just outside the fringe of alder
branches, the opposite shore was absolutely hidden. There was nothing
to indicate that an opposite shore existed, save that now and again
the dark top of a soaring pine or elm would show dimly for a moment,
seeming to float above the ghostly gulfs of mist.
The canoe kept close along the shore for guidance, as one feels one's
way along a wall in the dark. The channel, moreover, was deep and
clear in shore; while out under the mist the soft noises of ripples
proclaimed to the ears of the two canoeists the presence of frequent
rock and snag and shallow. Lest they should run upon unseen dangers
ahead, the canoeists were travelling very slowly, the bow-man resting
with his paddle across the gunwales before him, while the stern-man,
his paddle noiselessly waving like the fin of a trout, did no more
than keep his craft to her course and let her run with the current.
Down along the shore, keeping just behind the canoe and close to the
water's edge, followed a small, dark, sinuous creature, its piercing
eyes, bead-black with a glint of red behind them, fixed in savage
curiosity upon the canoemen. It was about two feet in length, with
extremely short legs, and a sharp, triangular head. As it ran--and its
movements were as soundless and effortless as those of a snake--it
humped its long, lithe body in a way that suggested a snake's coils.
It seemed to be following the canoe out of sheer curiosity--a
curiosity, however, which was probably well mixed with malevolence,
seeing that it was the curiosity of a mink. These two strange
creatures moving on the water were, of course, too large and
formidable for the big mink to dream of attacking them; but he could
wonder at them and hate them--and who could say that some chance to do
them a hurt might not arise? Stealthy, wary, and bold, he kept his
distance about eight or ten feet from the canoe; and because he was
behind he imagined himself unseen. As a matter of fact, however, the
steersman of the canoe, wiser in woodcraft and cunninger even than he,
had detected him and was watching him with interest from the corner of
his eye. So large a mink, and one so daring in curiosity, was a
phenomenon to be watched and studied with care. The canoeist did not
take his comrade in the bow into his confidence for some minutes, lest
the sound of the human voice should daunt the animal. But presently,
in a monotonous, rhythmic murmur which carried no alarm to the mink's
ear but only heightened its interest, he called the situation to his
companion's notice; and the latter, without seeming to see, kept watch
through half-closed lids.
A little way down the shore, close to the water's edge, something
round and white caught the mink's eye. Against the soft browns and
dark greys of the wet soil, the object fairly shone in its whiteness,
and seemed absurdly out of place. It was a hen's egg, either dropped
there by a careless hen from the pioneer's cabin near by, or left by a
musk-rat disturbed in his poaching. However it had got there, it was
an egg; and the canoeists saw that they no longer held the mink's
undivided attention. Gently the steersman sheered out a few feet
farther from the bank, and at the same time checked the canoe's
headway. He wanted to see how the mink would manipulate the egg when
he got to it.
The egg lay at the foot of a little path which led down the bushy bank
to the water--a path evidently trodden by the pioneer's cattle. Down
this path, stepping daintily and turning his long inquisitive nose and
big, bright, mischievous eyes from side to side, came a raccoon. He
was a small raccoon, a little shorter than the mink, but looking
heavier by reason of his more stocky build and bushier, looser fur.
His purpose was to fish or hunt frogs in the pool at the foot of the
path; but when he saw the egg gleaming through the misty air, his eyes
sparkled with satisfaction. A long summer passed in proximity to the
pioneer's cabin had enabled him to find out that eggs were good. He
hastened his steps, and with a sliding scramble, which attracted the
attention of the men in the canoe, he arrived at the water's edge. But
to his indignant astonishment he was not the first to arrive.
The mink was just ahead. He reached the egg, laid one paw upon it in
possession, and turned with a snarl of defiance as the raccoon came
down the bank. The latter paused to note the threatening fangs and
malign eyes of his slim rival. Then, with that brisk gaiety which the
raccoon carries into the most serious affairs of his life, and
particularly into his battles, he ran to the encounter. The men in
the canoe, eagerly interested, stole nearer to referee the match.
Quick as the raccoon was, his snake-like adversary was quicker.
Doubling back upon himself, the mink avoided that confident and
dangerous rush, and with a lightning snap fixed hold upon his enemy's
neck. But it was not, by half an inch, the hold he wanted; and his
long, deadly teeth sank not, as he had planned, into the foe's throat,
but into the great tough muscles a little higher up. He dared not let
go to try for the deadlier hold, but locked his jaws and whipped his
long body over the other's back, hoping to evade his antagonist's
teeth.
The raccoon had lost the first point, and his large eyes blazed with
pain and anger. But his dauntless spirit was not in the least
dismayed. Shaking the long, black body from his back, he swung himself
half round and caught his enemy's slim loins between his jaws. It was
a cruelly punishing grip, and under the stress of it the mink lashed
out so violently that the two, still holding on with locked jaws,
rolled over into the water, smashing the egg as they fell. The canoe,
now close beside them, they heeded not at all.
"Two to one on the mink!" whispered the traveller in the bow of the
canoe, delightedly. But the steersman smiled, and said "Wait!"
To be in the water suited the mink well enough. A hunter of fish in
their holes, he was almost as much at home in the water as a fish. But
the raccoon it did not suit at all. With a splutter he relinquished
his hold on the mink's loins; and the latter, perceiving the
advantage, let go and snapped again for the throat. But again he
miscalculated the alertness of the raccoon's sturdy muscles. The
latter had turned his head the instant that the mink's jaws relaxed,
and the two gnashed teeth in each other's faces, neither securing a
hold. The next moment the raccoon had leaped back to dry land, turning
in threatening readiness as he did so.
Though there was no longer anything to fight about, the mink's blood
was up. His eyes glowed like red coals, his long, black shape looked
very fit and dangerous, and his whole appearance was that of
vindictive fury. The raccoon, on the other hand, though bedraggled
from his ducking, maintained his gay, casual air, as if enjoying the
whole affair too much to be thoroughly enraged. When the mink darted
upon him, straight as a snake strikes, he met the attack with a
curious little pirouette; and the next instant the two were once more
locked in a death grapple.
It was some moments before the breathless watchers in the canoe could
make out which was getting the advantage, so closely were the grey
body and the black intertwined. Then it was seen that the raccoon was
using his flexible, hand-like paws as a bear might, to hold his foe
down to the punishment. Both contestants were much cut, and bleeding
freely; but the mink was now getting slow, while the raccoon was as
cheerfully alert as ever. At length the mink tore loose and made one
more desperate reach for his favourite throat-hold. But this time it
was the raccoon who avoided. He danced aside, flashed back, and caught
the mink fairly under the jaw. Then, bracing himself, he shook his foe
as a terrier might. And in a minute or two the long, black shape
straightened out limply amid the sand and dead leaves.
When the body was quite still the raccoon let go and stood over it
expectantly for some minutes. He bit it several times, and seeing that
this treatment elicited no retort, suffered himself to feel assured of
his victory. Highly pleased, he skipped back and forth over the body,
playfully seized it with his fore-paws, and bundled it up into a heap.
Then seeming to remember the origin of the quarrel, he sniffed
regretfully at the crumbled fragments of egg-shell. His expression of
disappointment was so ludicrous that in spite of themselves the men in
the canoe exploded with laughter.
As the harsh, incongruous sound startled the white stillnesses, in the
lifting of an eyelid the little conqueror vanished. One of the
canoeists stepped ashore, picked up the body of the slain mink, and
threw it into the canoe. As the two resumed their paddles and slipped
away into the mist, they knew that from some hiding-place on the bank
two bright, indignant eyes were peering after them in wonder.