"'And to think I was going to eat _that_!' he said to himself sadly."
CHAPTER XV
DAGGER BILL AND THE WATER BABIES
"What's that?" demanded the Babe nervously, as a peal of wild, crazy
laughter rang out over the surface of the lake.
"Why, don't you know what _that_ is yet?" Said Uncle Andy with a
superior air. "That's old Dagger Bill, the big black-and-white loon.
Sounds as if he was terribly amused, doesn't he? But he's only calling
to his big black-and-white mate, or the two little Dagger Bills they
hatched out in the spring."
"What does _he_ do?" asked the Babe.
"I don't _know_ much about that fellow," answered Uncle Andy. "Now you
see him, and now you don't. Mostly you don't; and, when you do, as
likely as not it's only his snaky black head, with its sharp dagger of
a bill, stuck up out of the water to keep track of you. He's _most_
unsociable. If anyone tells you he knows all about a loon, you wink to
yourself and pretend you are not listening. But I'll tell you who _do_
know something about old Dagger Bill--the Water Babies.
"Who're the Water Babies?" demanded the Babe.
"Why don't you know _that_? The little muskrats, of course, that live
in the warm, dry, dark nest under the dome of their mud house, out in
the water--the house with its doors so far under water that no one can
get into it without diving and swimming.
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