Every wild syllable was flung back like a shot
from the surrounding hills, till the air seemed full of loons, all
mingling their crazy cachinnations with the din of the chief
performer. The uproar made one shiver. Then Hukweem would cease
suddenly, listening intently to the warring echoes. Before the
confusion was half ended he would get excited again, and swim about in
small circles, spreading wings and tail, showing his fine feathers as
if every echo were an admiring loon, pleased as a peacock with himself
at having made such a noise in a quiet world.
There was another loon, a mother bird, on a different lake, whose two
eggs had been carried off by a thieving muskrat; but she did not know
who did it, for Musquash knows how to roll the eggs into water and
carry them off, before eating, where the mother bird will not find the
shells. She came swimming down to meet us the moment our canoe entered
the lake; and what she seemed to cry was, "Where are they? O where are
they?" She followed us across the lake, accusing us of robbery, and
asking the same question over and over.
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