e to show where he was. When
sliding also, plunging down a twenty-foot clay bank, he enters the water
with an astonishing lack of noise or disturbance of any kind.

In swimming at the surface he seems to use all four feet, like other
animals. But below the surface, when chasing fish, he uses only the
fore-paws. The hind legs then stretch straight out behind and are used,
with the heavy tail, for a great rudder. By this means he turns and
doubles like a flash, following surely the swift dartings of frightened
trout, and beating them by sheer speed and nimbleness.

When fishing a pool he always hunts outward from the center, driving the
fish towards the bank, keeping himself within their circlings, and so
having the immense advantage of the shorter line in heading off
his game. The fish are seized as they crouch against the bank for
protection, or try to dart out past him. Large fish are frequently
caught from behind as they lie resting in their spring-holes. So swift
and noiseless is his approach that they are seized before they become
aware of danger.

This swimming power of Keeonekh is all the more astonishing when one
remembers that he is distinctively a land animal, with none of the
special endowments of the seal, who is his only rival as a fisherman.
Nature undoubtedly intended him to get his living, as the other members
of his large family do, by hunting in the woods, and endowed him
accordingly. He is a strong runner, a good climber, a patient tireless
hunter, and his nose is keen as a brier. With a little practice he could
again get his living by hunting, as his ancestors did. If squirrels and
rats and rabbits were too nimble at first, there are plenty of musquash
to be caught, and he need not stop at a fawn or a sheep, for he is
enormously strong, and the grip of his jaws is not to be loosened.

In severe winters, when fish are scarce or his pools frozen over, he
takes to the woods boldly and shows himself a master at hunting craft.
But he likes fish, and likes the water, and for many generations now
has been simply a fisherman, with many of the quiet lovable traits that
belong to fishermen in general.

That is one thing to give you instant sympathy for Keeonekh--he is
so different, so far above all other members of his tribe. He is very
gentle by nature, with no trace of the fisher's ferocity or the weasel's
bloodthirstiness. He tames easily, and makes the most docile and
affectionate pet of all the wood f