t I could see nothing. The
woods were all still. Killooleet was dozing by his nest; the chickadees
had vanished, knowing that it was not meal time; and Meeko the red
squirrel had been made to jump from the fir top to the ground so often
that now he kept sullenly to his own hemlock across the island, nursing
his sore feet and scolding like a fury whenever I approached. Still
Simmo watched, as if a bear were approaching his bait, till I whispered,
"Quiee, Simmo, what is it?"

"Nodwar k'chee Toquis, I see little 'Fraid One'" he said, unconsciously
dropping into his own dialect, which is the softest speech in the world,
so soft that wild things are not disturbed when they hear it, thinking
it only a louder sough of the pines or a softer tunking of ripples on
the rocks.--"O bah cosh, see! He wash-um face in yo lil cup." And when
I tiptoed to his side, there was Tookhees sitting on the rim of my
drinking cup, in which I had left a new leader to soak for the evening's
fishing, scrubbing his face diligently, like a boy who is watched from
behind to see that he slights not his ears or his neck.

Remembering my own boyhood on cold mornings, I looked behind him to see
if he also were under compulsion, but there was no other mouse in sight.
He would scoop up a double handful of water in his paws, rub it rapidly
up over nose and eyes, and then behind his ears, on the spots that wake
you up quickest when you are sleepy. Then another scoop of water, and
another vigorous rub, ending behind his ears as before.

Simmo was full of wonder, for an Indian notices few things in the woods
beside those that pertain to his trapping and hunting; and to see a
mouse wash his face was as incomprehensible to him as to see me read a
book. But all wood mice are very cleanly; they have none of the strong
odors of our house mice. Afterwards, while getting acquainted, I saw him
wash many times in the plate of water that I kept filled near his den;
but he never washed more than his face and the sensitive spot behind his
ears. Sometimes, however, when I have seen him swimming in the lake
or river, I have wondered whether he were going on a journey, or just
bathing for the love of it, as he washed his face in my cup.

I left the cup where it was and spread a feast for the little guest,
cracker crumbs and a bit of candle end. In the morning they were gone,
the signs of several mice telling plainly who had been called in from
the wilderness byways. That was