pioneer's cattle. Down
this path, stepping daintily and turning his long inquisitive nose and
big, bright, mischievous eyes from side to side, came a raccoon. He
was a small raccoon, a little shorter than the mink, but looking
heavier by reason of his more stocky build and bushier, looser fur.
His purpose was to fish or hunt frogs in the pool at the foot of the
path; but when he saw the egg gleaming through the misty air, his eyes
sparkled with satisfaction. A long summer passed in proximity to the
pioneer's cabin had enabled him to find out that eggs were good. He
hastened his steps, and with a sliding scramble, which attracted the
attention of the men in the canoe, he arrived at the water's edge. But
to his indignant astonishment he was not the first to arrive.

The mink was just ahead. He reached the egg, laid one paw upon it in
possession, and turned with a snarl of defiance as the raccoon came
down the bank. The latter paused to note the threatening fangs and
malign eyes of his slim rival. Then, with that brisk gaiety which the
raccoon carries into the most serious affairs of his life, and
particularly into his battles, he ran to the encounter. The men in
the canoe, eagerly interested, stole nearer to referee the match.

Quick as the raccoon was, his snake-like adversary was quicker.
Doubling back upon himself, the mink avoided that confident and
dangerous rush, and with a lightning snap fixed hold upon his enemy's
neck. But it was not, by half an inch, the hold he wanted; and his
long, deadly teeth sank not, as he had planned, into the foe's throat,
but into the great tough muscles a little higher up. He dared not let
go to try for the deadlier hold, but locked his jaws and whipped his
long body over the other's back, hoping to evade his antagonist's
teeth.

The raccoon had lost the first point, and his large eyes blazed with
pain and anger. But his dauntless spirit was not in the least
dismayed. Shaking the long, black body from his back, he swung himself
half round and caught his enemy's slim loins between his jaws. It was
a cruelly punishing grip, and under the stress of it the mink lashed
out so violently that the two, still holding on with locked jaws,
rolled over into the water, smashing the egg as they fell. The canoe,
now close beside them, they heeded not at all.

"Two to one on the mink!" whispered the traveller in the bow of the
canoe, delightedly. But the steersman smiled, and said "Wait!"

To be