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Rh collected all the slain to show you, and for the sake of their skins.”

This account excited my curiosity, and I went to examine the place Ernest described: where I found, to my surprise, an arrangement much like a beaver dam, though on a small scale, and less complete.

“You have discovered a colony of Beaver Rats,” said I to Ernest, “so called from their resemblance in skill and manner of life to that wonderful creature.

“Musk-rat, Musquash, and Ondatra are other names given to them. They have, you see, webbed feet and flattened tails, and we shall find that they carry two small glands containing the scented substance called musk. The sooner we strip off the skins the better, they will be useful for making caps.”

We went back to the house, and met Fritz and Jack just returned from their excursion, reporting that no trace of serpents, great or small, had been met with.

Jack carried in his hat about a dozen eggs; and Fritz had shot a couple of heath fowls, a cock and hen.