e you. Did it have a mouth, Mun
Bun?"

"I didn't see its mouth, but it had a flappy tail."

"I'm going to call mamma!" exclaimed Vi, "Don't you go, Rose!"

But Rose was already halfway to the shore of the lake. In another moment
she called out:

"Oh, I see it! I see it!"

"What is it?" asked Mun, made brave by what he saw Rose doing, and he
followed her. Vi and Margy trailed after them. "What is it?"

"It's a big rat, that's all, but it isn't the kind of rats we saw the
hired man catch in a trap at the barn. It's a nicer rat than that, and
it's eating oysters on a rock near the shore."

"Oh, is it _really_ eating oysters?" asked Vi.

"They look like oysters," replied Rose. "Oh, there he goes!" and, as she
spoke, the animal, which did look like a rat, plunged into the water and
swam away, only the tip of its nose showing.

"Tisn't a bear," said Rose, "and 'tisn't an elephant."

"Then what is it?" asked Vi.

Rose did not know, but when the children went to the house and told
Grandma Bell about it, she said:

"Why, that was a big muskrat. They won't hurt you. There are many of them
in the lake, and in the winter the men catch them for their skins to make
fur-lined coats from. It was only a big muskrat you saw, Mun Bun."

"And was he eating oysters?" asked Vi, who liked to know all about things.

"They were fresh-water clams," said Grandma Bell. "There are many of them
in the lake, too. The muskrats bring them up from the bottom in their
paws, and take them out on a rock that sticks up from the water. There
they eat the clams."

"Well, I'm glad it wasn't a bear I saw," put in Mun Bun.

"So am I," said Mother Bunker with a laugh. "But you needn't be
afraid--there are no bears here."

While this had been going on Laddie and Russ, with their father in the
boat, had been having a good time. They rowed up the lake, and once or
twice Mr. Bunker let the boys take the oars so they might learn how to
row.

"If you are going to be around the water," said Mr. Bunker, "you ought to
learn how to row a boat as well as how to swim."

"I can swim a little," said Russ.

"Yes, you do very well," returned his father. "And before we go back I
must teach Laddie."

"I like to wade in my bare feet," said the smaller boy.

"Well, when you learn to swim you'll like that," replied his father. "But
now let's see if we can catch some fish. I told mother I'd try to bring
some home, and I guess Muffin is hungry for fish, too.