“But Dagger Bill, swimming under water like a fish, and spearing them from beneath with the deadly javelin of his beak, this was a new and dreadfully upsetting danger.  Furry heads got close together, and there was a terrible lot of squeaking and squealing before anyone could make up his mind what to do.  And meanwhile Dagger Bill was feeling quite pleased, because he had found out that Water Babies were good—­and safe!—­to eat.

“Now the Water Babies, I must tell you, had two nests—­one in the waterhouse, a few yards out from shore, and one at the end of the burrow leading up into the dry bank.  Their favorite amusement, as a rule, was playing tag in the quiet water around the house, sometimes on the surface, sometimes beneath it.  They would catch and nip each other by the tails or the hind legs, and sometimes grapple and drag each other down, for all the world like a lot of boys in swimming—­but how they could swim!  You’d give your eye teeth to swim like they could.”

“Bet your boots, Uncle Andy,” agreed the Babe enthusiastically.  “Specially these teeth, ’cause they’re my first, and I’ll lose ’em soon, anyway.”

“Huh!” grunted Uncle Andy, looking at him suspiciously.  “But, as I was saying, the Water Babies could swim.  They were no match for Dagger Bill, however, who was quicker than a fish.  And when Dagger Bill took to hunting Water Babies, it was no longer safe for them to play far from home.  They would get themselves well nipped by their relations, I can tell you, whenever they went outside the little patch of shallow water between the house and the bank.

“Now the sharpness of Dagger Bill’s eyes was something terrible.  From away across the lake, where no muskrat could see him at all, he could see the ripple made by the brown nose of the littlest muskrat swimming.  So one day, when the Water Babies were playing tag in what was really, you know, nothing more nor less than their own back yard, he saw the swift ripples and splashes crossing and recrossing—­and he laughed! You know how he laughed.

“And when the muskrats heard that wild laughter, they bobbed up their furry heads, those in the water; and those on land sat up like squirrels to listen, and all were as delighted as possible because the sound was so very far away!  Then the Water Babies all began to play about as boldly as you please, because they knew Dagger Bill was away over at the other side of the lake.

“But do you suppose he really was?

“Not much!  The moment he was done laughing he dived, and swam as hard as he could straight across the lake, under water.  He swam and he swam, a sharp, black-and-white wedge rushing through the golden deep, as long as he could hold his breath.  When he could not hold it a moment longer he came up, stuck his bill just above water, took a long breath, and dived again.  He was halfway across the lake when he came up that time.  Next time he was all the way across; but, being very cunning indeed, he came up under a grassy bank, where his black bill was hidden among the stems.