While my cup was filling again I went down to the brook and took
a wary old trout from his den under the end of a log, where the
foam bubbles were dancing merrily. When I went back, thirsting
for another sweet draught from the same spring, Meeko had emptied
it to the last drop and had his nose down in the bottom of my
cup, catching the sap as it welled up with an abundance that must
have surprised him. When I went away quietly he followed me
through the wood to the pool at the edge of the meadow, to see
what I would do next.

Wherever you go in the wilderness you find Meeko ahead of you,
and all the best camping grounds preempted by him. Even on the
islands he seems to own the prettiest spots, and disputes
mightily your right to stay there; though he is generally glad
enough of your company to share his loneliness, and shows it
plainly.

Once I found one living all by himself on an island in the middle
of a wilderness lake, with no company whatever except a family of
mink, who are his enemies. He had probably crossed on the ice in
the late spring, and while he was busy here and there with his
explorations the ice broke up, cutting off his retreat to the
mainland, which was too far away for his swimming. So he was a
prisoner for the long summer, and welcomed me gladly to share his
exile. He was the only red squirrel I ever met that never scolded
me roundly at least once a day. His loneliness had made him quite
tame. Most of the time he lived within sight of my tent door. Not
even Simmo's axe, though it made him jump twice from the top of a
spruce, could keep him long away. He had twenty ways of getting
up an excitement, and whenever he barked out in the woods I knew