Page:Winter - from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau.djvu/240

226 exceedingly numerous. Yet many of their cabins are above water on the S. branch. Here there are none. We saw fifteen or twenty of these creatures at least between Derby's bridge and the Tarbel spring, either swimming with surprising swiftness up or down or across the stream, to avoid us, or sitting at the water's edge, or resting on the edge of the ice, or on some alder bough just on the surface. One refreshed himself after his cold swim regardless of us, probed his fur with his nose, and scratched his ear like a dog. They frequently swam toward an apple-tree in the midst of the water, in the vain hope of finding a resting place and refuge there. I saw one looking quite a reddish brown, busily feeding on some plant just at the water's edge, thrusting his head under for it. But I hear the sound of G's gun up stream, and see his bag stuffed out with their dead bodies.

Jan. 22, 1857. I asked Minott about the cold Friday. He said &quot;it was plaguey cold. It stung like a wasp.&quot; He remembers seeing them toss up water in a shoemaker's shop, usually a very warm place, and when it struck the floor it was frozen, and rattled like so many shot.

Jan. 22, 1859. The muskrat hunter last night with his increased supply of powder and shot, and boat turned up somewhere on the