r's touch. In her absence they had
been voiceless, almost moveless, lest voice or motion should betray
them to an enemy.

Having satisfied herself as to the comfort of the furry children, the
old raccoon nimbly descended the tree, ran lightly down the hill, and
made for the nearest pool, where the frogs were piping. She was a
sturdy figure, yet lithe and graceful, about the bulk of the largest
cat, and with a tail almost the length of her body. Her legs, however,
were much shorter and more powerful than those of a cat; and when, for
a moment of wary observation, she stood still, her feet came down
flatly, like those of a bear, though in running she went on her toes,
light as the seed of the milkweed. Her head was much like a bear's in
shape, with the nose very long and pointed; and a bar of black across
the middle of her face, gave a startling intensity to her dark, keen,
half-malicious eyes. Her fur, very long and thick, was of a cloudy
brown; and the black rings on her gray tail stood out sharply in the
moonlight. Both in expression and in movement, she showed that strange
mixture of gaiety, ferocity, mischievousness, and confident sagacity,
which makes the raccoon unlike in character to all the other wild
kindreds.

[Illustration: "CROUCHED FLAT, MOVELESS AS THE LOG ITSELF."]

Though she was on important affairs intent, and carrying the cares of
the family, she was not too absorbed to feel the glad impulse of the
spring; and for sheer exuberance of life, she would go bounding over a
stick or a stone as if it were a tree or a boulder. Though life was a
serious matter, she was prepared to get out of it all the fun there
was to be had.

But when she neared the noisy pools she went stealthily enough.
Nevertheless, for all her caution, the pipings ceased in that section
of the pool when she was within two or three feet of the waterside;
and, in the little space of sudden silence, she knew that every small
piper was staring at her with fixed, protruding eyes. On she went,
straight out to the end of a half-submerged log, and there crouched
flat, moveless as the log itself. She knew that if she only kept still
long enough, she would come to be regarded by the pool-dwellers as
nothing more than a portion of the log. Meanwhile the high chorus from
the adjoining pools swelled ever louder and shriller, as the small
musicians voiced the joy of spring.

For perhaps ten minutes the space about the waiting raccoon on the log