"But that's the way things go.
Well, now, Dagger Bill rose right out on top of the water, as a bird should, and swam toward shore with the victim hanging limply from his beak.

But every old muskrat, along the bank or around the waterhouse, had seen and had understood.

Those folks that think muskrats and other wild creatures have sense, would have said it was all planned out ahead--it happened so quick.

Every muskrat dived like a flash into the water and disappeared.
"Dagger Bill was coolly making for shore, not dreaming that anybody would dare interfere with him, when suddenly his black head went up in the air, his great beak opened with a hoarse squawk, and he dropped the dead Water Baby.

His dark wings flopped, and his tail was drawn under so violently that he nearly turned over backward.