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By

RAYMON^ KELLY

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OGO THE BEAVER

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OGO THE BEAVER

by

Raymond Kelly

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Pictured by KURT WlESE

JUNIOR PRESS BOOKS

ALBERT^WHITAAAN
& 4 CO-

CHICAGO

1934

3

O-GO THE BEAVER

COPYRIGHT 1934 BY
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY

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$

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LITHOGRAPHED IN THE U. S. A.
NEWMAN RUDOLPH
CHICAGO

GClA 78125

NOV 15 1334

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

O-Go And His Family .

PAGE

. . 15

First Explorations .

. . 20

A New Lesson .

. . 26

The Lily Cove .

. . 32

O-Go's First Enemy . .

. . 38

Ranger Wallace .

. . . 46

Home Again .

. . . 51

A New Lodge .

... 59

O-Go’s Second Enemy .

... 69

Work And Play .

... 76

The Big Poplar Tree

... 85

O-Go's Third Enemy .

... 91

Autumn Preparations .

. . .101

The Invaders .

. . .106

Winter Food .

. . .113

Uncle Castor .

. . .117

Ranger Wallace Again .

. . . 124

O-Go's Fourth Enemy .

. . .128

O-Go And Thwacker .

. . .132

The Cloudburst .

. . .136

O- Go And His Mate .

. . .144

5

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

O-Go found himself outside the lodge . . FRONTISPIECE

Then he saw her . 43

He sharpened his teeth on the walnut stock of

Wallace’s rifle . 33

It felt good to O-Go to be well again . 63

With an angry squawk, she was upon the little beaver . 73

Ela made the trip time after time . 83

He turned sharply and shot to the surface . ... 99

A light that was absolutely blinding shone into

O-Go’s eyes . 109

There was nothing that he could do to free himself . 121

All that they could do was to keep their noses above

the surface . 139

7

FOREWORD

ILLUSTRATING this book has given me an unusual hap¬
piness. There was no need to search for scenes adaptable
to a translation into the graphic arts, as every line of this
book seems to breathe life and activity, while the scenic
descriptions seem to actually send forth the green coolness of
the beaver’s surroundings.

By executing the drawings directly on lithographic plates,
we are using a medium with the widest range of tone values
in black and white and the greatest accuracy in reproducing
the slightest pressure of the pencil, which in the ordinary
photo-engraving process is usually lost.

As regards the hero of the story, I think that we see our
beaver in quite a new light. His nocturnal habits and his pro¬
tective measure of surrounding his home with deep water has
made him a stranger to most of us. But, through this book,
we all of a sudden discover in him a brave and skilled laborer,
who harms nobody, but sets a fine example through his ability
and his wonderful attitude toward the tragedies in his life.

Signed KURT WlESE,

Frenchtown, New Jersey.

9

INTRODUCTION

THE DAYS we spend in the forest or beside the stream
teach us that the creatures of the wild do not lead
lives of monotonous security. Their days and their
nights are filled with contest, not only with their
enemies, but also with the blind forces of Nature.

In this contest, the survivors are not always the strongest,
but they are always the ones best fitted to the surroundings
in which they are placed, or best able to adapt themselves to
changing conditions. Thus, the tremendous mastodon and the
ferocious sabre-toothed tiger have long ago departed; while the
gentle but intelligent beaver has maintained his existence from
time immemorial down to the present age.

No animal is more worthy of a place in the scheme of
things than is the beaver; for, without weapons to defend
himself against the assaults of fiercer animals, he has managed
through sheer intelligence to hold his own against all enemies
except man; and, now that some measure of protection has
been granted him, he bids fair to remain with us permanently.

He is not an object of charity. The trees he takes are
those of least value to the lumberman, and the dams which he
builds are of real service in flood prevention. His life is a con¬
stant struggle, but he faces his difficulties bravely, and usually
triumphs over them. The purpose of this volume is to show
how he does this.

The thanks of the writer are due to Asst. Supt. James
E. McDade of the Chicago Schools, to Mr. John Nelson of
Hay Creek, Wisconsin, and to the late Chief Eagle-Feather for
helpful suggestions in the preparation of this story of O-GO
and his friends.

Raymond Kelly,

Chicago, Illinois.

11

O-Go found himself outside the lodge

O-GO AND HIS FAMILY

THE ROCKS and water-logged sticks at
the bottom of swift-running Patou
Creek were still coated with crystal, for
the waters of Patou flowed from high-up
among the passes of the Big Horn, where it
was still winter. Even where the creek spread
out over the floor of Digger’s Glen, it was as
yet covered with sheet ice, with here and there
a patch of open water. These patches, in all
probability, marked the locations of under-

15

water springs, and had remained open through
most of the winter. Now they were daily
increasing in size, for the frost was slowly
relaxing its grip.

Evidences of more kindly weather were to
be seen along the shore also. There, threads
of tender green showed themselves among the
brown grasses, and the hues of the mosses
were subtly enlivened, sure token of an awak¬
ening year. In the aspens, the willows, and
the birches, which fringed the shores of the
pond, the sap pulsed daily higher, swelling
the buds with the promise of a renewed fol¬
iage. Even the pines seemed to feel the new
influence, and to brood less darkly over the
forest.

The bear still slept in his winter den, and
the magpies that chattered from the spruces had
as yet only the squirrels to answer them, for
the songsters lingered in the lowlands. Soon,
however, these too would arrive to fill the
woods with their melody; for, although the
nightwind keened shrilly through the forest,
daytime skies were friendly, and the “honk-
honk” of northing geese was frequent over the
valley.

Of all these changes, however, O-Go, the
beaver, was ignorant, for like his brother Ilg,
and his sister Ela, he was only three days old.
O-Go knew only that there was comfort in

16

warmth and in feeding, and that he missed
his mother, when for a few moments she went
away from him. O-Go’s eyes were open, and
had been from the first, yet he saw nothing,
since daylight never enters a beaver lodge.

There being no place for light to enter the
lodge meant, of course, that the air in it was
unchanged also. But O-Go and his family
had no objection to re-breathed air, since they
and their ancestors for untold generations had
always lived in thick-walled, closely-sealed
houses. Perhaps though, it is not exactly true
that the air was not changed at all, as O-Go’s
mother went in and out through the under¬
water entrance at least once or twice daily.
Anyhow, the fewer openings a house has, the
less opportunity there is for cold or enemies
to enter.

O-Go’s father was not living in the lodge
that April, but was staying with some other
males of the colony in a dugout located half
a mile away at the side of one of the old beaver
canals. O-Go’s parents were not on bad terms.
On the contrary, they were very fond of one
another, and had mated, not for a single sea¬
son, but for life. Were either of them to die,
the other would live the remainder of life in
loneliness.

Like many other animals, however, beav¬
ers separate when there are very little ones in

17

the family, remaining apart for some weeks.
In the case of meat-eating animals, this is
easy to understand; the mother fears that the
father will destroy the young to satisfy his
own appetite. Beavers, however, eat only
vegetable matter. Hence, Father Beaver had
offered no resistance, when his mate had made
plain to him that his absence was requested,
but had gone quietly to join those others who
had received like hints from their mates.

This absence of the males of the colony
from their home lodges left the mothers with
the full care of the young. But, since these
lived entirely upon milk for their first few
weeks, that care was no great burden. All
that the mother had to do was to provide
herself with sufficient food, a task made easy
by the pile of brush and sticks, which lay
under water only a few yards from her door.

Nor did their absence leave Father Beaver
and his two friends, Shovel-Tail and Chisel-
Tooth, to a life of idleness. No, indeed; they
had plenty to do, for, since they had turned
over to the mothers what was left of the
winter’s supplies, they had to forage for their
food. They dived deep down into the pond
for the potato-like lily roots, swam to the dam
for young willow shoots, and even journeyed
inland a short way to dine on the inner bark
of poplar saplings.

18

Then, too, they had a certain amount of
work to do on the dam, which had at some
points been weakened by the pressure of the
winter’s ice. Such places they strengthened
with sticks, which they plastered into posi¬
tion with mud brought up from the bottom
of the pond. Their tools for this work were
their hand-like forepaws. With these they
packed the mud as tightly as need be and
patted it smooth in a workmanlike manner.
They performed all their tasks in a silence as
deep as that of the night that surrounded
them; yet they seemed never to hesitate, never
to blunder, never to get in one another’s way.

Mother Beaver and the other females of
the colony could have worked on the dam
with as much skill as was shown by their
mates. But their entire time and thought,
during those weeks, was given to their help¬
less young ones. Mother Beaver, for exam¬
ple, hated to leave O-Go, Ilg, and Ela even
for the short time necessary to get her dinner
from the storage pile. Indeed on her return
to the lodge, she swam faster and faster, fairly
bursting through the water that blocked the
entrance to the home tunnel, as if thinking
to herself, “Just suppose that something had
happened to those three wonderful babies,
while I have been away!”

19

FIRST EXPLORATIONS

4T THIS time O-Go, Ilg, and Ela were
/\ no larger than very young kittens, and
1 % were equally as helpless. They had as

yet little or no use of their legs, but sprawled
weakly beside their mother, conscious only of
the need for almost continuous feeding. When
they were not eating, they slept. When they
were not sleeping, they ate, and those two
activities made up the whole of their lives.
As a result of so much food and so little move-

20

ment, the young beavers grew at an astonish¬
ing rate, and by the end of their fifth week
were as large as collie puppies of that age.

They were as fat as any puppies, too, and
even clumsier, for their legs developed con¬
siderably more slowly than did their bodies.
Had there been opportunity for such a thing,
they would have been as friendly as puppies
also, as nothing had as yet happened to teach
them the lesson of fear.

For a while now, they had added play to
their list of activities, and had had a glorious
time, not caring at all when they happened
to roll into the tunnel, but scrambling out at
once to resume their sport. Mother Beaver
played with them, and was better at the game
than they were, for when it was her turn to
be chased, she could dive down the tunnel
and come up outside.

A dozen or more times this happened. Then
in his eagerness in the game, O-Go followed
right after her, and found himself outside the
lodge and swimming in the cold water of
Patou Pond. But the water did not seem cold
to O-Go, because the thick, soft fur beneath
his coarse outer hair kept out all the damp
and chill. For a few moments he swam beside
his mother. Then, as she returned to the lodge,
he dived after her, not yet caring to be out
alone. It had been a real adventure for O-Go

21

to take that first swim, and Mother Beaver
showed plainly that she was proud of him.

She had reason for her pride, since it was
through their play that she must teach her
little ones all those things that they needed to
know. This seems to be the way of all four-
footed animals in the training of their young.
Baby wolves play at fighting, or worry a
small piece of fur, and so do young lynxes
and foxes. For such games as those, however,
O-Go, Ilg, and Ela had no need. This was be¬
cause beavers do not learn to fight or to hunt,
since their food is all vegetable, and their ref¬
uge is the water. But they must learn while
very young all that is to be known about
diving and swimming.

Mother Beaver, therefore, went seriously to
work to teach Ilg and Ela the lesson that
O-Go had already learned. Time and again
she went out through the tunnel, followed by
O-Go. Time and again she returned, until
Ilg too, finally grasped the lesson and would
follow her. But Ela, for some reason or other,
seemed to be too timid to do as did the others,
so her mother was forced to use sterner meas¬
ures. She first crowded Ela slowly down the
long, sloping tunnel, and then half pushed,
half carried her through its water-filled portion.

For a moment after coming to the surface,
Ela was still terribly frightened. But Mother

22

Beaver stayed close beside her until she was
rid of her fear and was swimming quietly be¬
side Ilg and O-Go. Then Mother Beaver re¬
turned to the lodge, and Ela, who didn’t want
to be left all alone, followed behind the others.
The next time was easier, for though Ela was
still reluctant, she knew that she must obey.
The lesson had been a hard one for Ela, but
she had learned it. Thereafter, she left and
entered the lodge as fearlessly as did her two
brothers.

Mother Beaver was greatly pleased with all
three of her little ones because of the quick¬
ness with which they had learned how to use
the door of the lodge. In order that they
might not forget that lesson, she made them
practice it over and over again, until they were
able to go straight to the door from any point
within twenty feet of it. She knew that it
was very important for them to be able to
do this in time of danger, for a beaver must
be able to dive quickly and to swim well un¬
der water, if he is to escape his enemies.

This ability to escape from enemies is, of
course, important to all the creatures of the
wild, but few of the others are so dependent
upon it as is the beaver. Those others, as a
rule, are able to defend themselves at least a
little, but the beaver can not do so at all, for
he has no weapons, since his teeth are not made

23

for tearing flesh and his hand-like forefeet
have only the weakest of claws.

O-Go loved to use that door. It was fine
to feel the water close about him, as he swam
swiftly through the lower reaches of the tun¬
nel, fine to be borne quickly to the surface,
when he slowed the action of his strong hind
legs; and finest of all to lie contentedly at
the top, with only his face above water. O-Go
would remain still for many minutes, breath¬
ing the soft spring air, and listening to the
gentle breeze that barely ruffled the surface
of the pond. It was a pleasant world for little
beavers.

O-Go’s world was one of many beauties
also. In its farthest distance were the great
peaks of the Rockies, where the snow lingered
on into the summer, gleaming white under
the sunshine, rich with blue in the shadows.
Then there were the intervening forests, with
mile after mile of virgin timber, stately pines,
hemlocks and spruces on the uplands, but
birches, aspens and poplars lower down near
the water, ready for the use of the beavers.

The pond itself, formed partly by nature,
partly by the dam which O-Go’s ancestors had
built, was beautiful also, its waters green in
the shallows, blue-black in those deeper places
where the trout and the grayling loved to
lurk. Then, too, there were the pond lilies,

24

with their broad, green, purple-splashed leaves
and in season, their wondrous white and gold
blossoms.

That is the way O-Go’s world looked by
daylight. But when he was first led out into
it, there were only the long shadows of the
trees and the reflection of the stars in the wa¬
ter, for it was night on Patou Pond.

25

A NEW LESSON

OGO, Ilg, and Ela slept long and sound¬
ly after each trip into the open, for
they were still very young, and there¬
fore tired easily. Nevertheless, they were al¬
ways ready to go again when the next even¬
ing arrived, and Mother Beaver led them out
through their underwater door. Before she
did this, however, Mother Beaver first went
out alone, in order that she might carefully
look over the neighborhood and make cer-

26

tain that no enemy lay in waiting. She knew
well that, although beavers never eat meat,
there are many animals who do so, and that
to such creatures a baby beaver is the very
choicest of meals.

The fact that her examination never re¬
vealed the presence of any harmful thing did
not cause Mother Beaver to grow careless.
She made that trial trip every evening. Then,
certain that all was safe, she returned to lead
O-Go, Ilg, and Ela out through the tunnel
and up to the surface of the pond. There
they played at tag and follow-the-leader, each
game making them stronger and therefore able
to swim farther. To them, it was all play for
play’s sake, but to Mother Beaver it was a
part of their education, and she watched their
development with keen satisfaction. Soon, she
knew, they would be ready to go farther from
home.

After some days of this sort of exercise,
Mother Beaver was convinced that the time
had arrived, when it would be safe to make
a real journey with her young ones. That
evening, therefore, she did not permit them
to tire themselves with play, but led them
straight away from the door of the lodge to¬
ward the great dam, which swept in a long,
gentle curve across the mouth of the pond.
As they travelled, she swam, now in front of

27

them, now behind them, now at their side,
keeping them close together. They were hers,
and she was determined not to lose any of
them.

When they reached the dam, O-Go, Ilg,
and Ela had their first outdoors meal, for
Mother Beaver brought down one of the slen¬
der aspen saplings, which had sprung up from
live wood built into the earthwork. The sweet
and tender inside bark of that young tree was
very tasty indeed to O-Go, and he gnawed
lustily at it, as did Ilg and Ela also. But right
in the middle of their meal, Mother Beaver
suddenly hit the water a tremendous thwack
with her tail, and slipped quickly beneath the
surface of the pond, to come up many feet
away from shore. There she lay quietly, with
only her eyes and nose above water.

O-Go, Ilg, and Ela did not know what to
make of such peculiar conduct. They stopped
eating, and waited anxiously for their mother
to return to them, but this she did not do.
Therefore, as they were not at all accustomed
to being separated from her, and as it was
plain that she did not intend to come back to
them, they joined her in the water. As soon
as they had done this, she again led them
back to their abandoned dinner, but let them
eat for only a few minutes. Then, “thwack”.
Once more she slapped the water and dived.

28

This time, the little beavers did not wait
so long before coming to the side of their
mother, for they sensed that they must do
this. She would not come to them. A third
and a fourth time Mother Beaver repeated this,
and then all of a sudden, O-Go guessed the
secret. The thwack was a signal that his moth¬
er was about to dive. Very well! The next
time, he would dive when she did. “Thwack!”
There was the signal, and instantly O-Go was
in the water, and following his mother away
from the dam.

Two or three times more, as they plunged,
O-Go and his mother left the others well be¬
hind them, but at last all three of the little
beavers knew the signal, and would dive as
soon as it was given. Their learning this lesson
relieved Mother Beaver of one of the worst of
her worries, since many times in the life of
each of them, it would be necessary to dive at
the first hint of danger. T o fail to heed a warn¬
ing at such a time as that might mean for them
death or terrible injury. Thus, O-Go, Ilg, and
Ela had increased their chances of long life
through learning the meaning of tail-thwack¬
ing.

There was another method of signalling the
nearness of danger, and that was by means of
a sharp, quick whistle. It was necessary for the
beavers to have this second means of warning,

29

because there were likely to be occasions when
there was neither water nor soft mud right at
hand. Without one of those two things, of
course, tail-thwacking would not give a sound
loud enough to be counted upon. So Mother
Beaver had one more lesson to give on the art of
escaping the enemy. But that lesson she saved
for another evening.

On that evening, Ilg was, as before, always
the last to dive. This was not because of any
stupidity on Ilg’s part, but was due to his
greediness. He simply could not bear to leave
the sapling without one or two more bites of
that delicious young bark. This would not do
at all. Ilg must do as the others did. Mother
Beaver tried again and again, but still the
greedy little fellow was always tardy. Then,
her patience exhausted, she thwacked him, and
after that Ilg did a little better. However, it
was plainly to be seen that he would never be
as good at answering signals as were O-Go
and Ela.

With all this work at learning the new signal
and becoming letter perfect at the old one,
the three little beavers grew very tired indeed.
Therefore they were glad, when Mother Beaver
ceased her instruction, and allowed them to
settle down in earnest to their meal of aspen
bark. O-Go, for one, felt that he had had
enough of diving to last him for a long while.

30

O-Go changed his mind about that, how¬
ever, when right beside him, he discovered a
strange beaver, who was even larger than his
mother. O-Go didn’t wait for any signal. He
gave one himself, and immediately dived into
the pond, with Ilg and Ela close after him.
Mother Beaver also dived in order to impress
upon her young ones the importance of obey¬
ing the danger signal. To Mother Beaver,
though, the newcomer was no stranger, but
her mate. Father Beaver had returned to his
family.

For a time, the three young beavers remained
in the water, watching their parents from a safe
distance. Then, slowly and cautiously, they
swam back to the dam, and returned to their
interrupted meal.

Gradually, they became accustomed to the
presence of their father, and even began to feel
that they knew him. Finally, swimming in
single file with Father Beaver in the lead, and
Mother Beaver bringing up the rear, all five
returned to the lodge that nestled among the
willows.

31

THE LILY COVE

THE pond lilies would not bloom for
some weeks. But their leaves, dark
green with splashes of purple and
brown, were thick in the little cove at the far
side of Patou Pond. Thither then, went Father
Beaver, Mother Beaver, and all three of their
little ones, to find on their arrival that the
whole colony had taken the same notion. Over
twenty beavers were there that evening.

Such an occurrence would not have been in

32

any way remarkable a hundred and fifty years
earlier; then, beaver colonies had been both
larger and more numerous than they are to¬
day. Now, however, such a gathering was an
event so rare that probably even the oldest
beaver on Patou had never before seen, at one
time, so many of his kind.

The fact of the matter was, that the colony
had been increased, not only by the birth of
young in three of its six lodges, but also by
immigration. The immigrants, two in number,
had come to the pond from another stream, one
that lay beyond a series of ridges nearly thirty
miles in extent. The newcomers to Patou had
been routed from their former home by a series
of misfortunes so severe and so long-continued
that they had at last lost courage, and had
determined to abandon their home.

In the first place, all of the young born to
their colony the previous year had been carried
away, one at a time, by a pair of lynxes, which
had haunted the shores of their home to lie in
wait for the unwary. Then a fall freshet of
great violence had so badly damaged their dam
as to make it unlikely that so small a colony
could ever put it in proper repair. To complete
their trouble, two trappers, working in defiance
of the law, had come into that region, and had
taken a dozen pelts before being discovered
and arrested by the outraged forest rangers.

33

It was, therefore not to be wondered at,
that the two survivors of that terrible year had
left their home waters, and made their way
across country to join their more fortunate
relatives living on Patou. The journey had
been full of danger, for the major part of it
had had to be made on land. Therefore, it had
lasted for many nights. However, the two
beavers, wise in the ways of the forest, had
escaped every peril, and had at length reached
their destination, tired but unharmed.

They had been made welcome in their new
home, being received as though they had al¬
ways lived there, and had merely returned from
a visit. There was at present no lodge for them,
but there were several dugouts along the bank
of one of the old beaver canals. In one of these
the two had taken up their residence and would
remain there for the present. Later on the whole
colony would unite in building a lodge for
their permanent home. Therefore the new ar¬
rivals had nothing to worry them, but could
enjoy themselves with the others.

There was a small strip of beach at the cove,
and with its sand, hard-packed by the rain of
the previous night, made a delightful place
for all the young beavers. It was just suited to
their play, and they entertained themselves
delightfully, while their elders made excursions
to the bottom of the pond for the luscious lily

34

roots. Not all of the elders took part in this
work however, for there must always be some¬
one on guard.

This task fell that evening to O-Go’s great-
uncle— Castor, the oldest and wisest of all the
beavers on Patou. He knew all the scents of
the neighborhood, and could sort them out,
even when, as often happened, they came, not
singly but several at one time. Uncle Castor
ignored the odors of all harmless creatures, such
as old Snow-shoe, the giant hare, merely sniff¬
ing carefully in order to make certain that the
friendly smell did not mask that of some
enemy a trifle farther off. Then he gave no
further notice to Snow-shoe.

That was not the manner in which Uncle
Castor acted, when his sensitive nostrils caught
even the faintest whiff of coyote odor. When
that occurred, the wise old fellow immediately
thwacked the water with his broad, flat tail.
Then, without pausing a second, he plunged
beneath the surface of the pond, and every
beaver in the colony followed his example.
Beavers always obey without hesitation such
orders from a sentinel; for it is better to heed
a dozen false alarms than to fail to respond to
one true one. The law of the forest is, “Be
quick, lest you be dead.”

However, false alarms were very unlikely to
occur, when the sentinel was Uncle Castor. He

35

knew his trade far too well for that. There¬
fore, the colony had but little interruption that
evening, as the most of their enemies were hunt¬
ing elsewhere. As they had so much time, the
feast of lily roots was bountiful, and O-Go,
Ilg, and Ela could eat this new food to their
hearts’ content.

They played too, using all the games which
Mother Beaver had taught them, and became
acquainted with all of their cousins from the
other lodges. The crowd was much like a large
group of frolicsome and friendly puppies, and,
but for their broad, flat, scaly-looking tails, an
onlooker might have thought that that was
what they were.

Fun and food were both excellent, and
O-Go, Ilg, and Ela did not have to learn to
like the pond lily roots, but enjoyed them from
the first mouthful. So all in all, it was a won¬
derful evening, with everyone eating his fill.
Even Uncle Castor was not left out of the
feast, for Father Beaver took a turn at being
sentry, while the old fellow dined on the food
the others had gathered and had saved for him.

At length, the going-away signal was given,
and all but one of the beavers started to swim
toward home. The one who remained behind
was O-Go, who had eaten so much and had
played so hard that he had dropped off to sleep
in the shadow of a bush that grew close to the

36

water. Such conduct would not have been so
surprising in Ilg as it was in O-Go, for Ilg
always ate too much. But O-Go had never
failed to obey every signal and Mother Beaver
was therefore greatly surprised, when on reach¬
ing the lodge she found him missing. She
started immediately to hunt for him, leaving
Ilg and Ela in the care of Father Beaver.

In far less time than it had taken her to get
home, Mother Beaver was back at the lily cove.
There she hunted high and low for the little
fellow, finding easily enough the place where he
had eaten, the place where he had lain down to
sleep and the point at which he had entered the
water. But O-Go himself she could not find.
However, there was no scent of any enemy
about the place, and, taking what comfort she
could from that fact, Mother Beaver returned
home again. Perhaps O-Go would be there
before her.

37

O-GO’S FIRST ENEMY

O-GO’S sleep was not a long one. In fact
it was just long enough to permit the
others to get well started for home
before he awoke. This was unfortunate for
him, for had he slept another half-hour, his
mother would have found him on her return
to the lily cove. As it was, O-Go waked to find
himself all alone under the hazel bush. It took
him some minutes to realize his predicament.
His mother must be somewhere nearby, thought

38

O- Go, and he ambled down to the water’s
edge, still hoping to find her. Beaver smell was
everywhere, but of beavers there was none
except O-Go himself.

O-Go whimpered once or twice; that had
always brought his mother hurrying to see
what might be the matter. This time, however,
whimpering did not work at all, for Mother
Beaver was not there to hear him. She was still
nearly half a mile away, having just started
on her search for the little fellow. O-Go whim¬
pered again, by now really frightened. He
was deserted, and the thought of that sent
his whole world tumbling about his ears.
Nothing is so frightening to any young crea¬
ture as the feeling of being abandoned.

O-Go sat up, as Uncle Castor had done when
on guard, and sniffed the air; but he could
make nothing of the many odors that came
to his nostrils. He listened. All that he heard
was the rustle of the grasses and the gentle rip¬
pling of the water, as the night breeze passed
by. Again he listened. He could hear faintly
the soft, slapping noise of the lily pads, as the
wavelets caressed them. But what was that
queer sound in the bushes behind him?

It was only the faint twittering of some
small bird, disturbed in its slumber, or per¬
haps dreaming. But O-Go’s heart was tuned
to fear, and it beat furiously at that terrible

39

noise. Then, the fat little beaver plunged
headlong into the water, and swam desper¬
ately, until lack of breath forced him to the
surface. He must get away from that awful
place at once.

O-Go’s fright had been a fortunate one, for,
while he was still under water, a great white
owl, as fierce as any eagle, swept low over the
spot which he had just left. Those talons and
that hooked beak would have made short work
of any small beaver that they encountered.
Perhaps the twittering bird had sensed the ap¬
proach of that enemy, and had unwittingly
communicated its alarm to O-Go. It is in such
manner that squirrels very often warn the deer
of the approaching hunter.

At any rate, O-Go was now in the cool water
of the beaver pond, swimming, he hoped, to¬
wards home. In reality, however, he was going
in quite a wrong direction. As he swam, he
passed within a hundred yards of his mother,
but as both travelled silently, and as odors do
not carry far over water, neither was aware
of the other.

Thus it came about that, while Mother
Beaver was frantically searching the shore for
O-Go, he was climbing out of the water at
a point almost as far from home as that from
which he had started. And while Mother Beav¬
er was sadly returning to the lodge, O-Go was

40

again dropping off to sleep, this time beside
a log that lay close to the water on the north
shore of Patou Pond.

When next he waked, the dawn had come,
though the sun would not show his face for
yet another hour. O-Go was cold despite his
thick fur, for this was the first time he had
slept out of doors, or without the close com¬
fort of his mother, and of Ilg and Ela. He
was hungry, too, for his was a stomach that
required almost constant filling to meet the
demands of his rapid growth.

O-Go looked about him for food, but could
find nothing. The trees at that point were all
lodgepole pines, their outer bark harsh and
rough, their inner bark too bitter and resinous
to suit the palate of any beaver. A few lily
plants grew not far from shore, but O-Go
had not yet learned to find bottom and bring
up the succulent roots, which would have made
him so fine a breakfast. It looked as though
he must get along with only a drink of water.

The light was each moment getting stronger,
too, and that also bothered O-Go, for he had
never before been out of the lodge except at
night. Back in the woods there was shadow
a-plenty, and many sorts of food as well, but
O-Go did not know that. It was fortunate
for him that he did not go there, for had he
done so, he would have fallen straight into

41

the jaws of a wily old coyote, who lay watch¬
ing him.

Just as the coyote, convinced that O-Go was
really as defenseless as he seemed, gathered her¬
self to rush him, the little beaver caught scent
of her. He didn’t understand that odor, but
it was strange to him, and its strangeness was
frightening. Then he saw her, and his fear
passed all bounds. There was no escape open
to him, for the coyote was almost as near at
hand as was the water, and her speed was many
times that of which O-Go was capable.

O-Go was entirely defenseless; yet the thing
he did probably saved his life. Just as the coyote
was almost upon him, the little beaver sat
straight up, placing his fore paws above his
head. It was the sort of motion that he might
have made in the effort to ward off the blow
of a club. The position was an utterly useless
one against such an enemy as the coyote, but
the change to it did take him partly out of
the line of her charge.

So great was her speed that the coyote was
unable to change direction. She passed by
O-Go, slashing him cruelly with her fangs
on the way. Then, unable to check herself in
time, she was carried by the force of her rush,
into the water. Snarling furiously because of
the unexpected wetting, the coyote turned to
renew her attack upon O-Go, who lay half-

42

jb*s

Then he saw her

stunned and entirely helpless on the shore. It
seemed a certainty that in another minute he
must perish and be carried off as food for the
coyote’s pups; and such, indeed, would have
been his fate, had it not been for a sudden
interruption.

That interruption was the wild, “Yip, yip,
yip-eeeh,” shouted by Wallace, the forest
ranger, who had happened upon the scene. At
its echoing sound, the coyote forgot all about
O-Go, and intent only upon safety, tore
through the undergrowth and away from the
beaver pond.

45

RANGER WALLACE

WALLACE, the ranger, dismount¬
ed, drawing the bridle reins over
his pony’s head, and allowing
them to trail upon the ground as a “blind
halter.” Then, as rapidly as the roughness of
the going permitted, he made his way through
the timber, toward the point where O-Go
lay. The trip consumed at least ten minutes,
although the distance travelled was not much
over two hundred yards; for the hillside was

46

steep, and was strewn with wind-fallen tim¬
ber.

The ranger found O-Go still living, but so
completely unconscious that, at first glance, he
seemed to be dead. A more careful examina¬
tion, however, made it clear to Wallace that,
although terribly wounded, the little beaver
was still breathing. Accordingly the young
man set to work to save him, if such a thing
might be possible.

“Maybe we can patch you up, and maybe
not, young fellow,” said Wallace, as he seated
himself on a log, and took out his first aid
kit. “At least, it will do no harm to try it.”
Then, taking the little beaver onto his lap, he
took two or three stitches to close the wound.
The pain caused by these brought O-Go back
to consciousness, and he struggled feebly to
escape; but finding the effort useless, he gave
up and submitted to the ranger’s rough kind¬
ness without further protest.

As he finished his task of bandaging O-Go,
Wallace glanced over the water, noting with
surprise that from a short distance out in the
pond, two grown beavers were gravely watch¬
ing him. Of course he had known all the
while that there was a colony of beavers on
Patou, but this morning was the first time that
he had ever been able to see any of them,
though he had many times tried to do so.

47

The two beavers whom Wallace now ob¬
served, were the pair that had recently come
into the colony. They had heard the little
cry of distress, given by O-Go as the coyote
struck him, and had come to see whether there
was anything that they could do to aid him.
The presence of Wallace had prevented them
from landing, but they had remained to watch.
Now, seeing that they were observed, they at
once sank beneath the surface, to come up
many yards away.

“It’s all right, folks,’’ Wallace cried gaily.
“I’ll take good care of this young fellow, and
will bring him home to you as soon as he is
well enough to travel.” Then, cradling O-Go
in his arm, he turned away from the shore,
pleased to pretend that the adult beavers had
received and understood his message. The way
back over the windfall was a hard one, for,
with O-Go to carry, Wallace had the use of
only one hand in climbing. But the ranger
met the difficulty without complaint, using
every effort to avoid hurting the little beaver.

When he had reached the trail, Wallace was
confronted with a new problem, for his horse,
smelling the blood from O-Go’s wound, be¬
came alarmed, and at first would not permit
the ranger to mount. Wallace, therefore, took
the reins in his free hand, and led the animal
along the trail for about a half mile, talking

48

soothingly as he went. By this time, the horse
had calmed sufficiently to allow the young
man to climb into the saddle, and the remain¬
ing four miles of the journey were travelled
without incident, for O-Go lay quite still un¬
til they had reached the cabin.

There, Wallace deposited O-Go on a folded
horse blanket, and brought him a tin plate
filled with water. O-Go didn’t know what
to make of that, but, after Wallace had gently
pushed his nose into the liquid, he drank greed¬
ily, for already his wound was giving him a
touch of fever. Then O-Go went to sleep, to
awake after a few hours, weak and sore. The
raw potato, which Wallace offered to him, was
a dish fit for a veritable king of beavers; but
O-Go was too sick to eat it.

However, O-Go again drank freely. There¬
fore, Wallace was sure that, although he had
had a close call, the little fellow was going
to recover. Yet, for four days, O-Go contin¬
ued to be unable to eat, and Wallace began
to fear that he had been over-optimistic in
his belief that his guest would get well. But,
on the fifth day, O-Go was undeniably bet¬
ter, and showed it by gnawing bravely at the
potato, which Wallace held for him. There¬
after, his improvement was so rapid that a
week later he was exploring the whole cabin

O-Go was an affectionate little creature, as

49

well as an intelligent one. While Wallace was
changing or arranging his bandages, he would
remain perfectly motionless, as though under¬
standing that help was being given to him. He
would lie contentedly for an hour on the ran¬
ger’s knees, while the latter read a book, and
would even come, begging to be taken up. It
was clear that he had given the man his com¬
plete trust.

50

HOME AGAIN

PERHAPS, the two beavers, who had seen
O-Go carried away by the ranger, were
able to let his parents know about the
matter. Perhaps, Mother Beaver continued to
mourn for him, though it is possible that she
almost at once forgot all about him. At any
rate, she soon ceased to hunt for O-Go, and
devoted all her time and attention to the care
and feeding of Ilg and Ela. Ela was very
little bother to her mother, but Ilg was a

51

problem; he simply would not learn to answer
signals promptly.

Both of Ilg’s parents worked steadily at
the task of teaching him, and in time, they
succeeded in getting him to do somewhat bet¬
ter; still Ilg’s laziness and greed made him al¬
ways the last into the water. He was unkind
to Ela, too, for he was continually taking from
her the things she was given to eat. When Ilg
did this, Ela made no protest; she let him take
her food, and went in search of more.

Meanwhile, in the cabin on the hilltop,
O-Go was daily becoming stronger and more
active. He had come to regard his new friend as
the giver of all good things; and the ranger
did not disappoint him, but tried in every
way possible to please his little guest. A for¬
est ranger’s life is, at best, a lonely one, and
an affectionate pet is a great help towards
making that loneliness bearable. Therefore,
Wallace took great pains in caring for O-Go,
travelling long distances to secure for him the
choicest green shoots of willow, birch and
poplar.

No such trees grew in the neighborhood of
the cabin. The trees at that altitude were all
of the evergreen type, and their bark was bit¬
ter, because of its strong infusion of pitch and
of turpentine. Only in case of absolute neces¬
sity, would any beaver eat food of that sort.

52

He sharpened his teeth on the walnut stock
of Wallace's rifle

In spite of the work of providing O-Go
with food, Wallace would have liked to keep
him permanently. O-Go himself however
helped protect the young man from this temp¬
tation to break the law. He did this by be¬
coming somewhat of a nuisance about the
place. He became each day more curious about
his surroundings, and in the course of his in¬
vestigations did considerable damage.

On one occasion, the little beaver knocked
over the flour canister, and trailed the white
powder all over the cabin. Another time, he
sharpened his rapidly-growing, chisel-like teeth
on the walnut stock of Wallace’s rifle. The
wood was too hard to suit O-Go, and he did
not like the flavor of its varnish. Therefore,
he did not chew at it for a very long time,
and the gun butt escaped absolute destruction.
But it would never again be the thing of beauty
that it had been before O-Go worked on it.

Wallace gazed ruefully at the damaged gun,
wondering if O-Go hadn’t a little overstayed
his welcome. Then he laughed and forgave
the little fellow, for he realized that O-Go
had only followed the demands of his nature
and that there had been no malice in the mis¬
chief he had done. The ranger was determined,
however, that O-Go should have no further
opportunity to do harm. Accordingly, before
next leaving the cabin, he carefully placed out

55

of reach every article which he thought that
O-Go might be able to injure.

Wallace might as well have omitted this
labor, for it was entirely wasted. O-Go chewed
through one leg of the rustic, three-cornered
table, narrowly escaping death in the result¬
ing crash. The table had been piled high with
the ranger's goods, and their clatter as they
cascaded to the floor, so frightened the little
beaver that he took refuge under the bed. There
he remained until at length he felt certain
that the table would not again attack him.
Then he came out to examine the various ar¬
ticles scattered over the floor.

The canned goods did not greatly interest
O-Go, but the potatoes did. O-Go approved
of potatoes, and had never had as many of
them as he would have liked. But on this oc¬
casion, there seemed to be a limitless supply
of the delightful vegetable, and he went brave¬
ly to work at eating them. Those which he
could not eat, he nibbled a little, neither know¬
ing nor caring that his actions were dooming
his friend to a diet of bacon, beans and canned
goods for the next three weeks.

It was nearly midnight, when Wallace re¬
turned. He was tired and dusty, and his throat
was raw from smoke, for he had been miles
away from the cabin, helping to extinguish a
stubborn brush fire. It was, therefore, no won-

56

der that the ranger saw no humor in the sight
he saw, when he opened his door. Loneliness
is a hardship, but so too is a guest who makes
free with one’s property. Wallace was con¬
vinced that O-Go's parents needed him.

Nevertheless, the young ranger knew that
he would miss O-Go, for the little fellow had
been fine company during leisure hours. Thus,
it was with feelings of mingled sorrow and
relief, that he started for Patou the next morn¬
ing, with O-Go on the saddle before him. He
knew the exact location of the beaver lodges,
and rode to that part of the pond, walking
his horse all the way.

There, he set O-Go down, patted him in fare¬
well, and started away; but O-Go had no de¬
sire to be deserted, and followed as well as
his ridiculously short legs would let him.
Thereupon, Wallace again took him up and
carried him back to the shore, this time plac¬
ing him in the water. O-Go promptly scram¬
bled out, and again followed his friend. Half
amused, half annoyed, Wallace once more
picked up O-Go, cuffed him soundly, and
again placed him in the water. Then the ranger
went away at a run, and did not glance
back, until he had hidden himself behind a
tree. He watched from this place and, by the
aid of his field-glass, he was able to make
out a grown beaver swimming toward the

57

little one. Then, feeling lonely but righteous,
he mounted his horse and rode slowly off.

The grown beaver who had found O-Go
was his mother. Apparently, she knew him,
and was glad to have him at home once more,
though she was much annoyed by the man
smell, which, in spite of her constant curry¬
ing, clung to O-Go for days.

58

A NEW LODGE

THE TWO newcomers who had joined
the colony on Patou Pond, had thus
far been without any permanent home,
and had used the dugout on the old canal as
a temporary dwelling place. If there had not
been this spare lodge for them, they would
have been received into one of the lodges, for
beavers good-naturedly share their quarters
during an emergency. When the emergency is
over, each beaver family seeks, as a rule, to

59

live alone, although occasionally they build
very large lodges, and such lodges are clearly
intended for the use of more than one family.

There are cases, too, where a family of beav¬
ers lives year after year in a dugout, and it
is probable that the one on the old canal had
once been so used. It was, however, for sev¬
eral reasons no longer a suitable home. In
the first place, the canal on which it was situ¬
ated led into a portion of the woods that no
longer contained many trees of a sort useful
as beaver food.

Because of this fact, the Patou colony had
not bothered to clean out that canal in recent
years. Therefore, the dirt washed in from its
banks had gradually raised the floor of the
canal, until it was in some places, almost above
water. Thus, any beaver who crossed one of
these places, was exposed to attack. Further¬
more, he had the inconvenience of carrying,
instead of pushing, his food stick.

The dugout was also defective in another
way. Some years earlier, a wind storm, in pass¬
ing through that part of the woods, had up¬
rooted a dead tree; and in its fall, the tree had
thrust the broken stub of a branch through
the roof of the little cave. At the time, this
had done no particular harm, as the branch
plugged fairly well the hole which it had made.
But the passing seasons, with their rains and

60

their melting snows, had enlarged the hole. It
was a menace now to any beavers living in
the place, for their scent was wafted into the
outside air.

This meant, of course, that any wolf or
coyote, who happened into the neighborhood,
would be more than likely to pick up that
tell-tale odor. In that event, there would fol¬
low a spell of rapid digging on the part of the
enemy. If the beavers happened to be at home
when this occurred, they would have ample
time to escape through their tunnel. But, if
they were away at that time, they would al¬
most certainly return, only to fall into the
jaws of their waiting destroyer.

There would be no hope of escape for a
beaver thus taken by surprise. He cannot run,
since on land he is exceedingly clumsy in his
movements. He cannot fight, because he has
neither fangs nor sharp claws. His only refuge
is the water. Let him be cut off from that,
and he is completely at the mercy of any beast
fierce enough to attack him. It is plain, then,
that there were plenty of reasons for building
a new lodge.

It is probable that the work of building
would have been started in May, instead of
July, had it not been for two circumstances.
At the earlier date, Mother Beaver and two
of her neighbors had been exceedingly busy

61

with the care of very young families, and the
other members of the colony had been mak¬
ing some necessary repairs on the dam. Per¬
haps, the latter work might have been al¬
lowed to wait, but it is certain that neither
Mother Beaver nor her friends would have
left their little ones to shift for themselves for
a moment.

All reasons for delay were now out of the
way. The dam was in perfect repair; the most-
used canals had been cleared of all obstruc¬
tions; and a new spillway had been dug to
take care of any sudden freshet. All these
things were important. But there was one
matter that was more so: O-Go, Ilg, and Ela,
together with their young cousins, were al¬
most three months old. Therefore they were
no longer dependent on the constant attention
of their mothers.

There must be some manner in which beav¬
ers can communicate their thoughts to one
another, although what that manner is re¬
mains a mystery. Nevertheless, when the day
for starting the new lodge arrived, every beaver
on Patou was on hand, and seemed to know
just what part he or she was to take in the
task.

If there was any foreman in charge of the
work, it was probably Uncle Castor, as he
was the oldest, and therefore presumably the

62

wisest beaver in all the colony. However, not
even the closest observer has ever been able to
tell which beaver was in charge of any par¬
ticular piece of work. Still, the work must
have been assigned in some way, since the col¬
ony immediately divided into several groups,
each with its own special task.

One group remained at the site chosen for
the new lodge; another went to work at clear¬
ing out underbrush to make a skidway, down
which material might be brought to the wa¬
ter; a third group proceeded directly into the
woods. It was the job of this last-named group
to prepare the lumber that was to be used in
the building. Mother and Father Beaver were
members of this party of woodsmen, and
O-Go, who hadn’t the least idea of the rea¬
son for so much activity, followed them to
see what was about to happen.

Their way into the forest led through the
long canal. That was a pleasant place to swim,
for the bushes grew high on both banks, al¬
most meeting in mid-air, as they leaned over
the water. No matter how hot the day might
be out on the open pond, that shaded canal
was sure to be delightfully cool. There was
company there, too, for the overhanging bushes
had always flocks of little, insect- feeding birds;
and an occasional cottontail rabbit looked out
from beneath them to wiggle an inquiring

63

nose at the passing swimmer. It felt good to
O-Go to be well again, to be a strong, healthy
young beaver, living on so fine a pond as
Patou. So O-Go’s tiny, black, shoe-button eyes
were fairly shining, as with powerful strokes
of his webbed hind feet he made his way
through the canal toward the forest.

The lodge, in which O-Go, Ilg, and Ela
had been born, was an island one, its base
being a small hummock that barely projected
above the constant level of the water of the
pond. Such a lodge is the most desirable, for
it cannot be approached except by water, and
most enemies of the beaver are unable to at¬
tack them except when they are on land.

However, all the hummocks of sufficient size
to be used as foundations were already occu¬
pied. Therefore the beavers of Patou planned
to build a bank lodge for the new members
of the colony. The site chosen for this lodge
was in the canal, and was located at the widest
point, where it entered the pond. It was a
very convenient place for such a building, since
the canal made easy the bringing of food, and
the nearness of the pond offered safety, in
case flight became necessary.

Four of the beavers had remained at the
lodge site, when the others made their way
into the woods, and these four at once went
to work to prepare a foundation. This was no

64

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r " il* '

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1/

fc .. \JB

!

WV'

[i ® M fx

t w ■ Jt, 4

\ »

%jm

r

* .Jf}'

■4vW K&fc,

IgNi

L -j«k3al

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jpfc : .j?.‘i i

ap-"”-'’ v |m

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k* v .«£*

KS

It felt good to O-Go to be well again

easy task, as the work had to be begun under
water because of the lack of a supporting hum¬
mock. The beavers, having no tools other than
their paws, could not drive upright sticks as
a piling; but they managed, nevertheless, to
get a firm foundation.

This foundation, which was about twelve
feet across, was almost a perfect circle, and
was built of rocks, sticks and mud. The rocks
were first rolled down the bank of the canal
into the water; then they were worked into
position, and a mattress of sticks, mud and
small stones built in about them. The whole
mass was so closely worked together that its
strength and permanency were made certain,
and it was carried high enough above the
water to assure the occupants of the new home
that they would always have a dry floor.

Meanwhile, in the woods at the head of
the canal, the other beavers were busily lum¬
bering, in order to provide wood to be used
by the builders, They worked in pairs, and
the partners were, as a rule, mates. Thus
Father Beaver and Mother Beaver were at the
same tree.

Father Beaver, an old hand at such labor,
knew just how to begin, for without any
hesitation he chose the tree on which he wished
to work. It was a fine, straight poplar of the
cottonwood variety, and was about seven

67

inches in diameter. Moreover, it was so lo¬
cated that it could be dropped in such a manner
as to prevent its branches becoming entangled
with those of other trees.

As soon as he had satisfied himself as to
all these matters, Father Beaver, choosing the
down-hill side of the tree as his place to work,
drove his broad, orange-colored front teeth
deep into the wood of the tree. Mother
Beaver, on the opposite side of the poplar, did
likewise, settling herself in such a position
that her hind legs and her broad, flat tail
seemed to form a three-legged stool.

Both of them were expert woodsmen, as
their work plainly showed. First, they made
a down-cutting stroke; then an up-cutting one.
Usually, the double chip, thus made, came
away cleanly, but if it did not, a third bite,
combined with a sharp pull, brought it free.
They kept steadily busy at their task, thor¬
oughly enjoying the doing of it. This tree-cut-
ting is work at which beavers excel. More¬
over, their constantly-growing chisel teeth
must be continually worn away by such exer¬
cise as this, and the wearing-away process felt
pleasant to them.

68

O-GO’S SECOND ENEMY

OGO lay under the hazel bush with Ilg
and Ela, watching his parents cut
steadily away at the big poplar tree.
Never before, had it taken them so long to get
a tree down, and O-Go was puzzled about the
matter. There were plenty of small trees all
about, which would have done just as well
to furnish bark for O-Go’s dinner, and he
didn’t like the idea of waiting while they
chopped down this big one.

69

By and by, there came from the big poplar
tree a loud, snapping crack, and Father Beaver
knew at once that it was high time for him
to leave the place where he was working.
Accordingly, he went around to Mother Bea¬
ver’s side of the tree. Then, both beavers, stand¬
ing as tall as they could, pushed hard and
steadily with their hand-like fore paws. The
snapping sound was repeated, and the poplar
tree leaned slowly and gracefully forward;
then it toppled, falling with a great crash
into the only space open to receive it.

There was now an abundance of food at
hand in the tender top-branches, and O-Go,
Ilg, and Ela went eagerly to work at dis¬
posing of as much of it as they could eat.
Their parents, however, ate sparingly, for they
had yet much work to do. They must pro¬
vide sticks of wood of proper length and
thickness to be used by the builders, and until
they had a good supply of such material they
would not rest a great deal.

For the present, they entirely disregarded
the lower part of the tree, as thick, heavy
logs were not to be used in the building of
the lodge. But all that portion of the tree,
above the point where it had tapered to a
size of three inches, was usable, the inner bark
as food, the wood itself as building material.
There was another reason, too, why the bark

70

needed to be removed from these branches.
This was that wood left in the bark usually
decays more rapidly than does wood that has
been peeled.

While his parents, assisted by other grown
members of the colony, were still busy at cut¬
ting off the tree's branches, and while Ilg and
Ela were yet at their eating, O-Go finished
his meal. As he hadn’t eaten enough to make
him feel sleepy, and there seemed nothing fur¬
ther to interest him there in the slashing,
O-Go wandered away. Perhaps, his mother
did not notice him leave; perhaps, she sup¬
posed that he had gone down the canal to
the new lodge.

O-Go had done neither of those things. He
had wandered off at an angle, coming out of
the woods and onto the shore a full hun¬
dred yards from the mouth of the canal.
This was new territory to O-Go, and it was
best to be cautious. He paused, looked and
listened, his round, little ears set to catch any
hostile sound, his nostrils alert to detect any
enemy scent, and his beady eyes keen to see
whatever might be there to see.

He was not long in finding something to
interest him. There, not over a dozen yards
from where he stood, were six queer crea¬
tures who swam, not in the water but upon
it. Such a thing as that, thought O-Go, ought

71

to be investigated, and that at once. He would
go out to them and look them over. With¬
out stopping to thwack, O-Go slipped into
the pond, and started on his way.

O-Go did not finish that short journey;
for Mother Loon, who had been watching
him from the moment when he came out of
the woods, did not await his arrival. With
an angry squawk, she was upon the little
beaver before he had travelled three yards from
the shore; and was busily hammering him
with her powerful wings and her hard beak.
No beaver ever took a worse beating than
that angry mother loon gave to poor O-Go.

O-Go dived, but this effort to escape the
angry mother loon was useless, for she under¬
stood the art of underwater swimming as well
as he did. She kept right after him, nipping
him sharply, and he therefore came again to
the surface. Here, he was even worse off, as
the loon had now the use of her mighty wings
as weapons. Never had O-Go been more
frightened than he was then, for the blows
he was receiving were both numerous and
painful. It is true that his hurts were not dan¬
gerous ones, but O-Go was kept too busy
to realize that.

The whipping which that mother bird was
giving to O-Go might have lasted even longer
than it did, had not the noise of the battle

72

With an angry squawk, she was upon
the little beaver

come to the ears of those adult beavers who
were at work on the new lodge. On their
approach, the loon withdrew, shrieking with
wild and triumphant laughter. She rejoined
her mate and their four little ones, whom O-Go
would not have hurt, if he could, and couldn’t
have hurt had he wanted to do so.

O-Go’s curiosity would always be a vig¬
orous one, but on the subject of loons it was
forever satisfied. The lesson he had received
that evening had been too severe to permit
him ever to forget it, for that beating left
him bruised and sore for many days.

75

WORK AND PLAY

ALTHOUGH the foundation of the new
/\ lodge was all of twelve feet wide,
1 \ the inside of the building was intended

to be only six feet across. The reason for this
was that the walls were to be a full three feet
in thickness. That thickness was absolutely
necessary, because the beavers would have no
heat in their home except that supplied by
their own bodies. This would be all they
needed, however, for very little of it would

76

be lost by radiation through three feet of mud
and sticks.

The sticks used in the work of building
were brought from the slashing, many of them
coming from the big poplar which Father
Beaver and Mother Beaver had recently felled.
The preparation of the material for its use
in construction was greatly helped by the fact
that, for the time being, all the members of
the colony were making their meals off the
bark of that tree.

However, the wood had not only to be
peeled, but also cut into building lengths, be¬
fore it was ready to be transported to the site
of the new lodge; and this work fell to the
forest crew. This crew consisted of Father
Beaver, Mother Beaver, Shovel-tail and Uncle
Castor, all of them skillful foresters. They
made use of no yard sticks or tape lines, and
they kept no tally of the work done; yet there
was always just about the right proportion
of sticks of each length needed by the builders.

As fast as the sticks were made ready by
the foresters, another relay of beavers seized
upon them and dragged them to the canal,
by way of the path which had been cleared
through the underbrush for that purpose. At
the canal, each stick was turned over to a
beaver, who was there waiting for it. This
beaver, carrying the stick, either with his fore

77

paws or, if that pleased him better, in his
mouth, delivered it to the carpenter-masons
who were doing the actual building.

The carpenter-mason beavers set each stick
into position in the wall of the building, and
plastered it there with soft wet mud, which
they spread with their fore paws, and patted
as much as might be needed to make it hold
firmly. They had to work very slowly and
carefully, lest they push out of place work
already done but not yet dry. This was the
more true, because the wall they were build¬
ing did not go straight up, but curved gently
in as it rose.

Mud to be used as plaster was brought up
from the bottom of the canal. Thus, two
purposes were served by doing one piece of
work; the beavers supplied themselves with a
useful building material, and at the same time
cleared the canal of earth that had washed
into it during the past year.

O-Go and Ela helped get that mud from
the bottom of the canal. Ilg would have
helped, too, had he not been so busy at his
eating that he was unable to spare any time
for work. Ilg’s eating took up most of the
time that he did not pass in sleeping. O-Go
on the contrary was a restless little fellow,
who must always be doing something. There¬
fore, he kept busily at his digging until long

78

after Ela had gone back into the woods to
join Ilg and their parents.

O-Go had a really wonderful time with that
mud, for he was both playing and working
at one and the same time. First, he would
dive down to the bottom of the canal, and
would come up with as much mud as he
could squeeze between his fore paws. Then,
holding his ball of mud in this manner, and
kicking out strongly with his well-webbed hind
feet, he would swim over to the new lodge.
There, he would hand his mud to one of the
workers, and then go back for more.

Perhaps, O-Go was as much a nuisance as
he was a help in all this, for his paws were
still very small, and therefore the amount of
material he was able to bring at each load
amounted to but little. But the older beavers
gave no sign that they noticed this. They
took what he brought, with as much serious¬
ness as they showed when one of the adults
arrived with a load.

When the walls of the house had been
carried up for a distance of two feet, the bea¬
vers began to carpet its floor. This had to
be done at that time, because later on there
would be no way of bringing in the leaves
and moss except by carrying them under water.
That would never do, for a wet carpet would
be worse than none at all.

79

O-Go helped in this task also, and made
up in enthusiasm what he lacked in skill. Some¬
times, in his hurry, he threw as much of his
load into the water as he got into the house
itself. At other times, the material he brought
was altogether unsuitable to the purpose for
which it was intended. When that occurred,
the older beavers made no trouble about the
matter. They merely tossed out the unwanted
material, and allowed it to float away down
the canal.

There was one other job, connected with
the building of that lodge, with which O-Go
would have liked greatly to help. That job
was the digging of the two tunnels, which
were to serve as entryways to the home. How¬
ever there was always some little danger of a
cave-in when a tunnel was being constructed;
and therefore the older beavers gently pushed
the little fellow away, whenever he sought
to bear a hand at that task.

The tunnels were very interesting places,
and O-Go was not long in exploring them,
as soon as he was allowed to do so. He
found that one of them was much longer
than the other, and that it also began in much
deeper water. The reason for this was that
this tunnel was to be used both winter and
summer. Therefore, it had to go well below
any possible frost line before entering the

80

water. Otherwise, there would have been grave
danger that the occupants of the lodge might
be frozen in, and unable to leave their home
all winter. For that to happen meant that they
must starve.

The other tunnel opened out under the
water of the canal, and was both short and
straight. It was to be used only during that
part of the year when the weather was mild,
and the sap was in the trees. Then the beavers
of the lodge would bring their foodsticks down
the canal, and take them into the house through
that entrance. When really cold weather had
come, the canal would be frozen to its very
bottom. Then, only the deep-water entrance
could be used.

As O-Go wasn’t allowed to take any part
in the tunnel-digging, he hunted up Ilg and
Ela, to see if they might have found any¬
thing interesting to do. Ela had done so, al¬
though her discovery had happened quite by
accident. She had come upon a place where
the bank of the canal had crumbled, making
a slope, up which she was able to climb.
Moved by curiosity, she had made her way
to the top, while Ilg, who was not given to
unnecessary effort, waited for her in the canal.

As there was nothing in particular on the
bank to arouse Ela’s interest, she turned to
go back down the slope. The water, shed

81

from her fur in climbing, had made the earth
so wet and slippery that Ela came down much
faster than she had intended doing, and landed
in the water with a great splash.

Surprised but pleased, Ela again climbed
the bank, and repeated that slide. This was
fun indeed, and Ela made the trip time after
time. Even lazy Ilg saw that this was rare
entertainment, and soon he was taking as many
slides as was Ela. Ilg could hurry as fast as
any other little beaver, when the object to be
gained by that hurrying was either food or fun.

82

Ela made the trip time after time

THE BIG POPLAR TREE

UNCLE Castor was thoroughly dis¬
gusted. He had a right to feel that
way, too, for he and old Chisel-tooth
had blundered so badly that they had lost an
entire night’s work. Beavers are seldom care¬
less; and it would seem that two who were so
old that their muzzles were already growing
white, would not blunder at all. Yet those
two old foresters had felled a nine-inch pop¬
lar in such a way as to permit it to become

85

tightly wedged between two strong saplings.

Thus, the top of the big tree was kept
suspended a dozen feet above the ground; and,
since that top contained all the material of any
use to beavers, the labor of the two friends
was utterly wasted. Uncle Castor and Chisel-
tooth must therefore abandon that tree and
start on another one.

Had the two beavers been less experienced
in the ways of the forest, their misfortune
might have been turned into a tragedy of a
sort that has happened in many a slashing.
Ignorant young beavers, for example, would
probably have attempted to release that tree
trunk by felling one of the two small trees.
Such an attempt would have been a terrible
mistake; for as soon as the pressure on it was
released, the big tree would have fallen far
too rapidly to permit any animal so slow-mov¬
ing as a beaver to escape.

The news of Uncle Castor’s bad luck spread
rapidly through the colony, and every beaver
came to look at the wasted tree; but there was
nothing to be done in the matter. That tree
was a total loss. Therefore, each beaver sol¬
emnly inspected it, and then returned to his
own task ; for the new lodge was still far from
completion.

O-Go had worked pretty steadily for the
past few evenings, trying every task at which

86

he was permitted to help. He had brought
mud to be used as mortar, had collected leaves
and moss to carpet the floor of the lodge, and
had fetched building sticks from the slash¬
ing. He cared less for the stick-carrying job
that he did for the other ones, as it was neces¬
sary to make a two hundred-yard trip through
the canal for each piece of wood.

A very few journeys of that sort were all
that O-Go cared for, and he therefore looked
about him for something else to do. Perhaps,
Ilg or Ela might be busy at something which
would entertain him too. O-Go hunted for
them all along the bank, but could not find
them; he looked for them along the canal,
but they were not there; he sought them in
the slashing, but they were nowhere to be seen.
They had eaten their fill, and had gone home
to sleep.

There was nothing for O-Go to do, no
one with wThom he could play, and nobody
to entertain him. He wandered around the
slashing, feeling both bored and lonely. There
was plenty to eat there, but he was not hun¬
gry. There was plenty of wood waiting to be
carried, but he did not feel inclined to work
at that. He could, of course, go back to his
home lodge and sleep, but he wasn’t sleepy.

Presently, O-Go came to the big poplar tree,
which Uncle Castor and Chisel-tooth had mis-

87

felled. Earlier in the evening, all the beavers
of the colony had visited that place. Now it
was deserted, though O-Go could hear work¬
ers not far away.

O-Go wasn't hungry, but his constantly-
growing chisel teeth urged him to gnaw wood.
Therefore, he decided to cut down a tree, and
sought for one not too big for him to handle.
Finally, quite by chance, he waddled over to
one of the saplings which supported the big
tree, and in a moment more he was busily
gnawing away at it. The fact that he sat di¬
rectly beneath the overhanging trunk of the
suspended poplar meant nothing to O-Go.

The grinding of his teeth, as he chipped
away at that sapling, felt good to O-Go. He
was not lonely now, for he was busy. He was
not afraid, either, for there were no hostile
sounds or odors there in the slashing. O-Go
was a contented little beaver.

Once, it is true, the big poplar made a
queer, groaning noise, startling O-Go so badly
that he scurried to find shelter in the water.
There, he tarried for a while, lying motion¬
less and almost submerged until his heart quit
its pounding. Then, very cautiously, he once
more crawled out of the water.

O-Go listened, but there was nothing to
hear; he looked, but there was nothing to see;
he sniffed the air, but its only odors were those

88

of the water and the trees. It was evident that
no dangerous creature was lurking in the slash¬
ing, and O-Go therefore returned to his sap¬
ling, and resumed his task of chiseling it down.
He failed to notice that the big poplar under
which he sat had settled several inches; and,
even if he had noticed it, the fact would have
been of no interest to him, for he was still a
very young beaver.

Again, the big tree made that snapping,
groaning noise, and again O-Go turned to flee.
In his fright, he travelled directly along the
line of that great trunk. Had he been one
second later in starting, O-Go would have been
hopelessly mangled as though by the blow of
a giant’s club, for the butt of the tree rolled
slowly off the stump and came to rest along
the ground. As it was, O-Go escaped with
his life, and without any serious injury. But
he was imprisoned among the lower branches,
so closely confined that he could move only
a few inches in any direction.

For a moment, O-Go was paralyzed by his
fear. Then, he sought frantically to escape,
turning now this way, now that, in the effort
to find some opening large enough to permit
him to pass. There was none. He must either
remain a prisoner, or he must gnaw his way
to safety.

It is doubtful whether O-Go would have

89

succeeded in an attempt to do this. More likely
than not, he would have gnawed just the
branch, whose removal would bring that great
tree trunk down upon his head. But he was
not to be compelled to try this experiment,
for Uncle Castor, who had heard the sound
of the tree’s fall, came to investigate, and found
O-Go in his prison.

The wise old sagamore of Patou Pond saw
at once that O-Go was in real peril, and went
for help. He returned shortly, bringing with
him O-Go’s parents and old Chisel-tooth.
Then, the four grown beavers, working very
carefully, cleared a little lane through the
branches; and O-Go, still badly frightened,
made his way to safety and to his mother.
He had escaped one of the gravest of the dan¬
gers that beset a beaver’s life.

90

O-GO’S THIRD ENEMY

O-GO’S adventure with the big poplar
tree had given him a bad fright. It
had also caused an hour of worry
and hard work for his elders. Nevertheless,
good had resulted from the accident; for it
had made it possible to use the branches of
that tree in finishing the building of the new
lodge. Now, the lodge was completed, and
was ready to be occupied by the two beavers,
whose home it was to be.

91

Seen from the outside, the lodge appeared
to be much roomier than it actually was. This
was because the walls were everywhere a full
three feet in thickness. Therefore the one room
of the dwelling was only a little over six feet
across, and its height at the center was just
a trifle over three and one-half feet. From that
height, the room, which was dome-shaped,
curved gently down to meet the floor. Thus
it was all ceiling.

The entire structure had been built of
short, peeled sticks, thoroughly laced together
and plastered with mud. Over this structure,
the beavers had, however, thrown a loose
mass of longer sticks, which still retained their
bark, and were held in position only by their
own weight. These were piled on with such
apparent carelessness that the lodge looked al¬
most like a tangled mass of driftwood, instead
of a well-built building. Further concealment
was furnished by the many clumps of wil¬
lows which grew out of the water all over
that portion of Patou Pond.

O-Go, Ilg, and Ela visited the new lodge, as
did all the other members of the beaver col¬
ony. They found the place much to their lik¬
ing, for it was almost exactly like their own
home. Of course, they would not live in the
new lodge, but it was well for them to be¬
come acquainted with the exact location of

92

both its entrances. Then, in case they needed
a refuge from any enemy, when they hap¬
pened to be in that neighborhood, they would
be able to find one of those two tunnels in the
least possible time.

Now that the new lodge was finished, there
was little or no work at hand, and the whole
colony on Patou settled down to a life of
leisure. Earlier in the season the dam had been
given all needed repairs, and had also been
lengthened a little, in order to increase the
spread of water in the pond. This was done,
because the supply of food was thereby in¬
creased by bringing the water close to more
poplar and aspen trees.

The value of having so much food close at
hand lay in the fact that supplies must not only
be had for the summer, but must also be stored
for the long, cold winter. This work of stor¬
ing food would not be attended to until late
September or early October. Therefore, there
was no reason why any beaver in the colony
need do any more work than was required
to supply himself with food from day to day.

For the most part, the grown beavers idled
about, going into the slashing only when they
wished to eat, and not bothering to carry any
foodsticks back to the lodges. They went
whenever they happened to be hungry, some¬
times making such trips in broad daylight;

93

for though the forest preserve had many va¬
cation visitors in it, few of them ever came
near that part of the pond where the lodges
were located.

Such visitors as did approach the pond, usu¬
ally reported that they had found little to re¬
ward them for their trouble; for the woods
near the canal had been partly flooded by the
lengthening of the dam. Moreover, the lodges
were so located among the willows as to make
it impossible for any visitor to get even a
glimpse of them, unless he wished first to wade
waist deep in the pond. As very few persons
would take so much bother, the beavers were
but seldom disturbed.

Furthermore, a trip through the neighbor¬
hood of the lodges was to be made only with
a great deal of noise. At the first sound made
by an invader, the beaver who was standing
guard at that moment was sure to thwack,
and then every member of the colony at once
disappeared. Thus the beavers on Patou were
seldom disturbed, and their season of idle¬
ness was an exceedingly pleasant one.

The young beavers had nothing to do ex¬
cept to eat, to sleep and to play. Naturally,
their growth under such conditions was rapid;
so that the end of August found O-Go, Ilg,
and Ela weighing about fifteen pounds each.
Their strength had increased accordingly; and

94

now, they could swim as rapidly, or stay un¬
der water as long, as could their elders. When
awake and not eating, they were always at
their games, for they were healthy, and there¬
fore found pleasure in the use of their strong
young muscles.

Sometimes, they played at hide-and-seek, a
game for which their own neighborhood was
wonderfully suited, for there were many
clumps of willows to furnish concealment.
Sometimes, they played at tag; sometimes, at
follow-the-leader. All of these games were ed¬
ucational, as well as pleasurable, for through
them the little beavers became thoroughly ac¬
quainted with every hiding place in the pond,
and also gained in skill at dodging when pur¬
sued.

They played in the slashing, too, and found
there many good things to eat, for several kinds
of low-growing berries were now ripe. There
was also a plentiful supply of mushrooms, a
food of which O-Go never became tired. Every
day, as soon as he came into the slashing, O-Go
went straight to that mushroom plantation.
He was never disappointed, either; for, no mat¬
ter how thoroughly those mushrooms were
cleaned up one day, there were always more
the next.

It was very pleasant to O-Go to be in the
woods. He liked the food that he found there;

95

he liked, when he had eaten, to rest a while
in some sunny spot only one step from the
sheltering water; he liked, when he had sunned
himself a while, to play a little longer in the
woods or in the sun-warmed water of the
pond; he liked, too, to swim in that pond by
moonlight. With play, with fine food, and
with abundant sleep, O-Go, Ilg, and Ela were
having a wonderful summer.

Most of the play was without any real ad¬
venture, but once O-Go had a really terrifying
experience. The game that warm August even¬
ing was a combination of tag and hide-and-
seek, and the little beavers had a great deal
of fun out of it; now hiding behind a clump
of willows; now darting out, to chase or be
chased by a playmate. It was while he was
resting for a moment in concealment that O-Go
noticed, what he took to be an older beaver,
watching him closely.

O-Go did not mind being watched at his
play, and therefore paid but little attention to
the matter. He turned to keep an eye upon
Ilg who was hunting for his brother. But Ilg
started off in a wrong direction, and O-Go
again glanced carelessly towards the watcher,
noticing that the stranger was perceptibly
closer.

This seemed peculiar to O-Go, for there
was no current in that place, and the stranger

96

did not appear to be making any effort at swim¬
ming. O-Go glanced again. Yes; the strange
beaver was swimming towards him, but com¬
ing so slowly and quietly that he seemed
scarcely to move at all. What a queer head he
had! The hairs about his mouth were so thick
as to form a regular moustache. O- Go had
never before seen a beaver like that one. O-Go
felt a faint twinge of alarm.

Just at that moment came a slight whisper
of breeze, bringing with it the stranger’s odor,
and O-Go’s nostrils told him that something
was very wrong. The stranger wasn’t a beaver
at all, but an otter.

His heart hammering with sudden terror,
O-Go thwacked and dived, swimming with
all the power of his webbed hind feet. Nor
had he been a moment too soon in starting that
flight, for only his thirty-foot start saved him
from the first fierce rush of his enemy. The
otter was not so heavy as a full-grown beaver,
and was capable of much faster swimming.
This was because of his more slender body and
his four webbed feet. So swift was he, in fact,
that he readily overtook and captured even the
fleetest of fish, the trout and the grayling.

Down, down went O-Go, for he had been
in one of the few places where the depth of
the pond was over six feet. But the otter kept
right after him. It would have been the end

97

of O-Go, had it not been that his flight led
him to the shelter of an underwater brush-pile.
There he turned sharply and shot to the sur¬
face, while his pursuer, deceived for the mo¬
ment, broke water as far from his prey as when
their grim race had started.

O-Go dived again, this time swimming di¬
rectly for his home tunnel, now less than fifty
feet away and in somewhat shallower water.
The otter dived, too, but this time his pursuit
of O-Go was a short one; for Father Beaver,
Uncle Castor and old Shovel-tail had come to
the rescue. Without the slightest hesitation, all
three attacked the enemy at once, a thing which
only the grimmest necessity could have led
them to do, for beavers are the most peaceable
of animals.

That fierce, meat-eating beast, the otter,
would have very quickly disposed of any one
of his attackers; and, even with three to fight,
put up a tremendous battle, slashing each of
them time and again. But they kept constantly
at him, forcing the fight below the surface as
much as possible, and seeing to it that only one
of their number at a time came up for air.

Even so, the otter was twice able to break
away from them, and assume the offensive,
and it was only the arrival of two more grown
beavers that decided the affair. Then, and then
only, the otter gave up the struggle and fled.

98

He turned sharply and shot to the surface

AUTUMN PREPARATIONS

IT WAS still summer on Patou; the willow
clumps were in full foliage, and the pond
lilies spread the ivory and gold of their
great blossoms as thickly as ever. Giant dragon
flies darted hither and yon, their gauzy wings
shimmering in the sunlight, as they took their
way over the dark water. Sapsuckers and wood¬
peckers drilled merrily away in the woods,
the rat-a-tat-tat of their hammering echoing
through the reaches of the forest.

101

Deep in the woods, the elk, his horns now
hardened and freed from their casing of velvet,
guarded his mate, or engaged in mortal com¬
bat with others of his kind.

It was still summer on Patou; but there were
signs a-plenty that that summer was aging to
its end. The yellow-winged blackbirds had
abandoned family life, and now flocked in un¬
told thousands amongst the reeds that lined
the shore. The young ducks, shoveler, pintail,
mallard and teal, were all full grown; and daily
tested their wings in longer and longer flights,
preparatory to the great migration which the
passing of a very few weeks must bring. Geese,
too, were beginning to come in from the North¬
land, where autumn had already arrived.

Days were still hot on Patou, the thermom¬
eter at times climbing into the nineties, but the
nights were cool; so that, although frost was
still some weeks away, the tourists passing
through the great forest slept under blankets
and found them comfortable.

Of most of these changes, O-Go saw but
little, as he was seldom abroad in full day¬
light; but he, too, was all unknowingly mak¬
ing his preparation for the long, cold winter.
The fur that lay beneath his coarse outer hair
was becoming unbelievably thick and soft;
while between his skin and the underlying
muscles, there was forming a layer of fat, which

102

was not only to warm him but also to assist
in supplying him with nourishment.

O-Go was entirely contented with his life in
those days, for food was plentiful, and he was
well and strong. He also knew that, even when
he was not hungry, there was satisfaction in
gnawing on a poplar stick. Sometimes he would
select a branch that was three or four feet long,
and would cut it into short pieces; then, choos¬
ing the piece which had the most knots, he
would worry away at it until it had been almost
entirely reduced to chips. Thus his constantly-
growing, orange-colored front teeth were kept
always worn to a proper length and keenness.

He knew all the sounds and odors common
to the neighborhood of the pond, and could
read their messages. He knew that the porcu¬
pine, like the beaver a night feeder, was, despite
his forbidding appearance, harmless when let
alone. He knew that the squirrels, who chat¬
tered in the tree tops, were his friends, and
would warn him of the approach of any enemy
who came by land, and in the daytime.

O-Go knew that Mother Bear was fond of
fruit, and that she liked privacy. Therefore,
when her smell and that of her two cubs hung
heavy over a berry patch, O-Go considered that
patch as her property. It was not a safe place
for little beavers. He knew that the resound¬
ing whirr of partridge wings carried no mes-

103

sage of danger, but that the far less noisy rattle
of the pit viper was filled with a deadly menace.

O-Go, however, differed from the other
members of the colony in one respect; he had
no deep-seated fear of man. This was due to
his having lived for some days at the cabin
of Wallace, the ranger. There, he had allowed
the young man and those of his friends who
called there, to handle him freely. He had, fur¬
thermore, received a number of visits from
Wallace since his return to the pond.

The ranger had missed O-Go greatly, and
had therefore sought to renew their acquaint¬
ance. He had several times, when nightfall
found him in that neighborhood, waited in
the edge of the slashing in hopes of meeting
the little fellow. On the first three occasions,
Wallace’s efforts were unsuccessful. This was
because some grown beaver, catching sound or
scent of him, had given the alarm. Thereupon,
O-Go had dived with the rest, for he had been
well trained to obey all such warnings.

Wallace was unwilling to give up the idea
of renewing his friendship with O-Go; there¬
fore, he came a fourth time to the slashing.
This time he was more fortunate, for O-Go
happened to wander very close to the point
where he was hiding. Consequently, the little
beaver was the first to catch the ranger’s scent,
and some slight stirring of memory prevented

104

him from giving the alarm at once. He waited a
moment, sitting bolt upright to sniff the air;
then half-minded to flee, but filled with curi¬
osity, he moved slowly towards the man.

Wallace heard him, and gave the low whistle,
with which he had formerly been accustomed
to call O-Go to him. At that sound, memory
stirred still more strongly in the mind of the
little beaver. He trembled with excitement and
with fear ; yet he did not leave, but, as though
drawn by some power beyond his control, he
came to the ranger’s feet.

Had Wallace, even then, made any sudden
movement, O-Go would have fled, but the
ranger was too wise to commit such an error.
He began to talk quietly to O-Go, and at the
same time to lower his hand. In that hand lay
a small potato. Its smell completed the awak¬
ening of O-Go’s memory, and he accepted the
gift. Then he submitted to being petted.

Thereafter, whenever it was possible for
Wallace to do so, he visited the slashing. Al¬
ways he brought with him a potato or two;
so that O-Go came to look for his visits. Soon
the two were as friendly as ever, and O-Go did
not flee, even when some other beaver, catch¬
ing the man-odor, gave the alarm. Learning
to disregard any warning is a dangerous thing
for a wild animal, and loss of the fear of
man is particularly likely to lead to disaster.

105

THE INVADERS

A LL OF the beavers had thoroughly en~
/% joyed their season of rest and idleness,
7 % but the time for such things was now

at an end, for it was mid-September. Only a
few weeks were left, during which the sap
would remain in the tree tops; and in that
short space of time there was much work for
the colony to do. Enough food must be put
in storage to last them all, until another spring
should cause the buds again to swell.

106

In some manner, the message was spread
that the work of collection and storage was
to begin on a certain evening. Therefore, that
evening found every beaver in the slashing,
and ready to start work. They worked, as al¬
ways, in silence; yet there was perfect har¬
mony, and the work was so divided as to be
best accomplished, although no one beaver
seemed to hold any authority over the others.

Half a dozen pairs, usually mate and mate,
were engaged in the felling of poplars, the trees
chosen ranging in thickness from four to ten
inches. As a rule, the cutting was done mostly
from one side, that side being the one nearest
to the water. Sometimes, however, the labor
was so planned as to drop the tree parallel to
the shore-line. At this task, the beavers stood
almost upright, and their broad, flat tails,
touching the ground, made them appear to be
sitting upon stools.

The cutting was almost continuously car¬
ried on during the earlier part of the night,
one beaver working steadily for about twenty
minutes, and then stepping aside to allow his
partner or mate to carry on in his place. Occa¬
sionally, the beaver who was resting would
step up to the tree, and would cut for a minute
or two at the point directly opposite that on
which the other was working. They seemed
to have a very definite idea as to how much of

107

this sort of thing was necessary to the job.

As there was no part of the work which
O-Go was fitted to do, and nothing new to
him in seeing a tree felled, there was no par¬
ticular reason for him to remain in the slash¬
ing. Besides, only a short distance away, there
were berries and mushrooms to be had for the
taking. Then, too, there was always the possi¬
bility that his friend Wallace might have passed
that way. In that case, there would be a potato
for O-Go. Potatoes, in O-Go's opinion, were
even better than pond lily roots; though he
was the only beaver on Patou to hold such a
view, since none of the others had ever tasted
a farm-grown vegetable.

O-Go found the mushrooms rather scanty
in number, as the place had been gone over so
often that not many mushrooms had been left
to multiply. This had not been altogether the
work of the beavers; for occasionally a bear
had visited the place, and had dined there.
Moreover, the season was by now so far ad¬
vanced that warm nights were very few; and
such nights are necessary to the growth of
mushrooms. Nevertheless, O-Go, having the
place to himself, managed to find enough of
the tasty bits to make a very fair meal.

Here was food which did not need to be
chiseled off, as did poplar bark; it need not be
ground into pulp between his molars, before

108

A light that was absolutely blinding shone
into O-Go's eyes

it was fit to be swallowed, for it was pulp
already. All that O-Go had to do was to pick
it up in his front paws, cram it into his mouth,
and crush it with his tongue. Then, when the
fullness of that wonderful flavor had been ex¬
hausted, he had only to swallow, and to hunt
for a fresh mouthful. There were no potatoes
for O-Go that evening; but he dined on mush¬
rooms and lay down at the water’s edge, at
peace with himself and with his world.

Suddenly, O-Go caught a whiff of man-
scent, coming down wind to him from a point
some fifty yards distant. The place was not that
to which Wallace usually came, and the scent
itself was somehow different. Just wherein that
difference lay, O-Go did not know; but he
was conscious of it, and was therefore sus¬
picious. It was true that, at Wallace’s cabin,
he had met a number of the ranger’s friends
and had allowed them to pet him. That, how¬
ever, had been some months ago, and since
his return to Patou he had met no human
being except the ranger. Therefore, O-Go hes¬
itated, standing at full height, in order to test
the queer scent to its utmost.

Then happened a most terrifying thing. A
light that was absolutely blinding shone
squarely into O-Go’s eyes. At that very in¬
stant, Uncle Castor, who was on guard duty,
sounded the alarm. All the beavers, who were

in

at work in the slashing, immediately took to
the water; but O-Go, still blinded by the flash¬
light, remained motionless for a full minute.

If either of the two men, who crouched
watching him, had wished to shoot him, O-Go
would have been an easy target. However, they
spared him, finally snapping off the light, and
permitting him to make his way to the water,
undisturbed except for his fears. This was
through no feeling of mercy on their part; for
one of them was an outlaw trapper, and the
other a dealer in unlawfully-taken furs; and
each was without a grain of pity in his being.

O-Go was permitted to live for just one
reason; it was not yet late enough in the year
for beaver fur to have reached its prime. Hence,
the two men were not at that moment seeking
for pelts, but were merely spying out the land.
They were travelling by night, examining all
traces of beaver work in the great forest, in
order that the dealer might decide whether it
was worth while to grubstake the trapper for
the coming winter. Thus it was, that the two
men spent an entire night in walking the woods
and wading the waters of Patou, flashing their
lights here and there, until they had formed
an accurate estimate of the number of beavers
in the colony.

112

WINTER FOOD

ALL of the beavers on Patou had been ter-
/\ ribly frightened by the light and the
1 \ sounds made by the invaders. Indeed, so

great was their fear, that for two days they
remained hidden in their lodges. The third day,
however, found them back in the slashings; for
food must soon be collected and stored, lest
the rapidly approaching winter bring starva¬
tion to them all.

A number of trees had been partly cut at the

113

time when the work had been interrupted, and
the felling of these was soon completed. Then,
the beavers began the task of cutting the
branches into lengths suitable for storage. At
this work, even little beavers were of use; there¬
fore O-Go, Ilg, and Ela went daily into the
slashing to help their parents.

Ilg’s assistance did not amount to much, for
he was so greedy that he kept his mouth about
as busy as his paws. But O-Go and Ela were
enthusiastic workers, although they, too, were
at times somewhat of a nuisance. This was
because in their eagerness, they kept getting in
the way of their elders, and had to be shoved
aside. Whenever this had to be done, it was
done gently, for the grown beavers knew that
the little ones were doing as well as they could.

Wrecking the fallen trees was a far more
tedious job than the felling of them had been,
since each branch must first be removed from
the trunk and must then be cut into pieces of
proper length. Some of these pieces were poles
six or eight feet long, but the majority were
considerably shorter. This was necessary in
order that they might be dragged through the
tunnels and into the lodges, when it was time
for them to be used.

As fast as the foodsticks were prepared, a
second group of workers dragged them down
the skidway that led to the canal. There, a

114

third crew received them. This third group
performed the actual work of storage, which
consisted of sinking the sticks in the deepest
part of the pond and anchoring them to pre¬
vent their returning to the surface.

The doing of this work was not so difficult,
since a sap-laden stick is almost as heavy as
the volume of water which it displaces. There¬
fore, all that was needed was for the beaver to
rest his weight on the stick and to sink with it
to the bottom of the pond. Then, a few hand¬
fuls of mud, raked over one end of the stick,
sufficed to hold it in position. Later on, other
sticks could be entangled with those first sunk,
and as all soon became waterlogged, they would
remain in place until it was time to use them.

O-Go was not yet old enough to be trusted
with the work of putting sticks into storage,
but he could carry one as well as could any
beaver; that is, of course, if the stick were not
too large a one. He could carry the stick in his
mouth or, if he wished, tuck it under his fore¬
paws, while his webbed hind feet attended
to the swimming.

One thing which kept O-Go interested was
the variety of tasks at which he was permitted
to work. Whenever he tired of carrying sticks
for the storage crew, he could go back to the
slashing and help his parents at cutting up
branches. When that occupation, too, bored

115

him, he could assist in dragging or pushing
sticks down the skid way; if he did not feel like
working at all, he could play, or eat, or sleep.
Ela worked even harder than did O-Go, but Ilg
surpassed them both in eating and sleeping.

For nearly five weeks, the beavers of Patou
colony kept busily at work, putting away
food for winter use, for they were thrifty and
the supply of green wood was all that they
could wish. If the winter should turn out to be
a mild one, and the spring that followed it
came early, there would be a large surplus of
foodsticks left over, but that surplus would not
be wasted. Such sticks could be used to make
the repairs needed by both lodges and dam
during the coming year.

If, on the other hand, the winter should be
a long and hard one, there would be no short¬
age of food in that colony. Spring would find
its members well fed and in good condition

116

UNCLE CASTOR

THERE was trouble on Patou Pond, for
one of the members of the beaver col¬
ony had lost his life in a trap. This
beaver had been one of that pair which had
joined the colony the previous spring, and for
which the entire colony had labored so hard
to build the new lodge. Now, that lodge would,
for a long time at least, have but a single ten¬
ant; for when beavers mate, it is for life. Later
on perhaps, other beavers might move in to

i

share the home of the widowed one. She knew
the fate that had befallen her mate, for she
had been beside him at the moment when the
trap had snapped about his foot. But she
had been unable to help him. She had brought
other members of the colony, but they, too,
had been powerless to save him.

The loss of one member of the colony was
serious enough, but the thing that worried the
old beavers was the knowledge that there were
probably many other traps waiting for the
unwary. Father Beaver, Uncle Castor, and
Chisel -tooth knew this very well indeed, for
they had lived during the bad days before the
forest preserve had been marked out. They
had, as a consequence of that fact, a very good
idea of the situation, for they had witnessed
more than one grim struggle for existence.

It was clear to all the old beavers that some¬
thing must be done about this matter of traps,
if the colony was to continue. Therefore, Father
Beaver, Uncle Castor and Chisel-tooth started
out that same night. Because of their past
experience, they had a pretty definite idea of
what was to be done.

First of all, they swam out to the dam, and
then floated slowly along it. They were seek¬
ing for something which they could use to
make traps harmless to beavers. Whenever
they came upon a bit of driftwood, they ex¬

its

amined it with care; but for a long time they
found nothing that exactly suited their purpose.

At length, however, they located just what
they wished; it was a billet of poplar wood,
and was about five feet long and some eight
inches thick. This stick was almost, although
not quite, water-logged, and the short stubs
of several branches were still on it.

With great care not to touch the dam itself,
those three wise old beavers gently clawed
that log away from the bank. One end swung
out easily enough, but the other offered con¬
siderable resistance. Therefore Uncle Castor,
with the help of Chisel-tooth, pushed sideways
on it, while Father Beaver tugged bravely at
the free end.

“Snap!” The log came away from the dam;
but with it came the thing that made that
terrifying noise. It flew through the air, just
missing Uncle Castor’s head, and then splashed
into the water, dangling from the log— by a
short piece of chain. Quite by accident, the three
beavers had sprung one of the traps, but for¬
tunately they had done so without harm.

It was now perfectly safe for them to handle
that poplar log, had they chosen to do so; but
the three old beavers would have nothing fur¬
ther to do with it. They left it floating where
it lay, and sought elsewhere. However, they
could find no other log suited to their pur-

119

pose; therefore they gave up that idea, and
returned to the neighborhood of the lodges.

There, on the shore, where the water had
been backed up by the dam, lay a boulder.
Thirty thousand or more years before this
time, that stone had been the plaything of the
glacier which, in those days covered the ter¬
ritory now occupied by the great forest. As
a result of its handling by that ancient river
of ice, the stone was shaped into an almost
perfect hemisphere, its rounded upper surface
smooth, its flattened side rough and uneven.

The stone had been much reduced in size
through its rough treatment in the Ice Age;
nevertheless, it was still a bulky object, weigh¬
ing at least thirty-five pounds. To move so
heavy an affair was no easy task, especially as
the stone was well embedded in the earth that
surrounded it. But the three old beavers went
valiantly to work, and in an hour’s time, had
dug the soil from about the boulder, and had
worked it out of its bed. Then, working two
at a time, while the third beaver rested, they
rolled that stone here and there, until they had
covered a very large part of the slashing.

Had the stone been especially designed for
the work to which the three beavers put it, it
could have been no better suited to their pur¬
pose. Every time it came down on its flat
surface, it did so with a mighty thump that

120

P9$m

There was nothing he could do to free himself

shook the ground upon which it fell; and six
times that night the thump was followed by
the loud snap of a released trap. Every such
snap meant that one more danger to the colony
had been removed.

The skill shown by those three old beavers
in the locating of the traps was uncanny. Per¬
haps, they were able to pick the right spots
by reason of the appearance of the ground
where the traps lay buried. Perhaps, despite
the use of castor-extract, the odor of steel was
still perceptible to their keen noses. At any
rate, Father Beaver and his two associates knew
what to do, and did it.

Dawn had almost come when the unex¬
pected happened. All but one of the traps close
to the head of the canal had been sprung; but
onto that one Uncle Castor stepped. The saw¬
like edges of the iron jaws were instantly
clamped upon his foot, and he was a prisoner;
a hopeless prisoner, too, for the foot by which
he was held was a back one. There was nothing
he could do to free himself.

From the woods beyond the slashing, came
scent and sound of an approaching man; and
Father Beaver and Chisel-tooth, thwacked and
dived, while Uncle Castor waited alone for
his doom.

123

THE MAN, who came swiftly through
the slashing towards Uncle Castor, car¬
ried in his hand a short, flat bar of
steel. He kept steadily on his way, and in a
few seconds stood directly over the old beaver.
The latter made no effort to escape, but sat
upright, his hand-like fore paws clasped upon
his head, as though to break, as much as pos¬
sible, the force of an expected blow.

However, Uncle Castor was really in no

RANGER WALLACE AGAIN

124

danger at all, for his visitor was O-Go’s good
friend, Wallace. The young man’s face was set
and stern, as he stood there, looking down at
Uncle Castor; but its severity was all for the
evil person who had done this great wrong.
For Uncle Castor he had only pity, and he
spoke gently to the old fellow, meanwhile
grasping his leg at a point just above the trap.

The ranger was wary, lest in his fear the
beaver should turn and bite him; but this cau¬
tion was entirely unnecessary, for Uncle Castor
realized his helplessness, and offered no resis¬
tance. Assured that his hands were in no dan¬
ger, Wallace quickly inserted the chisel -edged
end of the steel bar between the jaws of the
trap. Then, with a quick twist of his power¬
ful wrist, he forced the trap open, and lifted
out of it the imprisoned foot.

So numb was the old beaver’s leg from the
cruel pressure it had undergone, that he at first
seemed not to realize his freedom, but stood
gazing dumbly at his benefactor. Then, the
blood began again to circulate through the in¬
jured leg; and Uncle Castor, with a parting
thwack of his tail, slid into the canal, and
headed for home.

The ranger stood for a moment, watching
the spot where Uncle Castor had dived. Then,
he hurried away, for he had much work to do
before the colony would be free from the men-

125

ace of those traps, which still infested its home
shores.

Therefore, Wallace set himself to work at
the job of locating and removing all the traps
on Patou and its nearby tributaries. In this
work, he was aided by another ranger of more
years and of greater experience. This man knew
just where the traps were most likely to be
found, and so well did the two work that all
danger of this sort was removed from O-Go
and his relatives.

By the time this had been accomplished,
winter was close at hand, for it was now well
into November. Most of the ducks had fol¬
lowed the song birds on their long flight to
the Southland, but more wild geese were com¬
ing in at Patou Pond than were leaving. The
poplar trees were almost naked of leaves; the
oaks and the birches, a short while before so
gorgeous in color, were fading to a rusty
brown; even the pines had begun to assume
that duller green, which is their winter dress.
The nights were now really cold, and the morn¬
ing sun was reflected in the shimmer of thin
ice that lay wherever the water was motionless.

All of these things were without power to
disturb the beavers. Let winter come, and the
last of the sap descend into the roots of the
trees! They had food enough in storage for
the longest of winters. Let sheet ice blanket

126

their pond, and the snow pile foot after foot
upon it! Their stores were in deep water, well
below frost level ; and so, too, were the entrances
to their lodges. Let the cold go to twenty,
thirty, or even forty degrees below zero! Their
fur was soft and warm; their thick- walled
lodges were sufficiently heated by the warmth
of the occupants’ bodies.

Therefore, through gray days and sunshine,
through clear nights and black, O-Go, Ilg, and
Ela dwelt in the lodge of their parents, eating,
sleeping and growing. There were no berries or
pond lily roots for them now; but the bark
of the poplar sticks was savory, and if their
diet was monotonous, they probably did not
realize it. Because there was so little room for
play, they slept more than they had during
the summer. Because they slept so much, they
had less need of food.

Thus, they spent their hours, and were
happy, until spring once more found its way
into the Northland.

127

O-GO’S FOURTH ENEMY

DURING his second summer, O-Go ex¬
plored every foot of Patou Pond; for
he was now almost a grown beaver,
and therefore no longer kept under the con¬
stantly watchful eye of his mother. O- Go was
very independent about the matter, going out
of the lodge whenever he wished, and return¬
ing when it suited him to do so.

Sometimes, Ilg or Ela would go with O-Go
on his expeditions; but, as Ela was timid and

128

Ilg lazy, O-Go more often than not travelled
alone, or in the company of his friend,
Thwacker, a distant cousin, who lived in the
next lodge. He was O-Go’s greatest admirer,
and was always ready to follow him.

Thwacker would have been with O-Go on
the day when the latter started out to explore
the creek above Patou Pond, if O-Go had not
been too impatient to wait for dusk to come.
But, as it was broad daylight when O-Go left
the lodge of his parents, Thwacker had not
yet appeared out of doors.

O-Go was half way across the pond, when
a sudden and swiftly-moving shadow startled
him. At once, the young beaver dived; and
it was well for him that he did so, for the
shadow had been caused by the circling of a
hungry eagle, as it coasted down to the attack.
Usually, the eagle would not have troubled
an animal so large as a beaver, but hunting
had been poor that day, and O-Go appeared to
be a fairly easy prey.

When O-Go came again to the surface, he
was many yards closer to his home than he
had been at the time he had dived. He needed
only a moment or two, in which to renew
the supply of air in his lungs; then he would
be ready for another under water swim as long
as the first one. The eagle, however, did not
allow him that long an intermission, but

129

plunged at him the instant his nose came above
water, and O-Go was compelled to dive again.

As he did so, the eagle immediately rose to
a height of about one hundred feet. From that
elevation, the great bird was able to see deep
down into the water, and follow O-Go’s every
move, as he swam beneath the surface. This
time, O-Go did not remain under as long or
travel as far as the first time.

In only one respect did O-Go have an ad¬
vantage over the great bird. The eagle could
not swim, and therefore dared not let his body
come into actual contact with the water; for,
if he became thoroughly wet, he could not rise
from the surface. For this reason, O-Go was
able to maintain a reasonably straight line of
flight, and every plunge brought him closer
to his home. Nevertheless, O-Go was fighting
a losing battle, since the eagle was always upon
him, and each successive plunge was shorter
than the one before it.

When the struggle had started, O-Go had
been a full quarter-mile from the lodges. Now,
after a series of desperate dives and hurried
breath-takings, he was within a hundred yards
of safety; but he was so thoroughly exhausted
that it seemed hopeless to flee farther.

The eagle no longer rose very high after
each thrust at O-Go, for the canny bird now
knew perfectly the direction in which the bea¬

no

ver was travelling. He also knew just about
where O-Go would next come to the surface.
Therefore, he hovered close to the water, re¬
solved this time to make his kill. Apparently,
however, he had overshot his mark, for he
heard the splash of water immediately behind.

Instantly, the eagle rose high in the air, in
order that he might get a clear view of the
water, and locate O-Go with certainty. His
keen eye at once noticed that there was a change
in the situation. Instead of one beaver, he now
saw two. One of these dived instantly; the
other lay on the surface, as though exhausted.

The beaver seemed to be considerably larger
than the eagle had thought. It would be ab¬
solutely impossible to carry it away to the nest
on the mountain; but there was a hummock
nearby, where a hungry bird might dine. With
a triumphant scream, the eagle swooped down
to finish the matter then and there.

He was still twenty feet above the water,
when Mother Beaver gave a tremendous
thwack and dived. Then, swimming slowly,
she made her way to the home lodge, to which
O-Go had already escaped.

Thereafter, O-Go never trusted himself to
the open pond in full daylight. If necessity
forced him to be abroad at such a time, he
kept close to the shadow; nor did he forget to
look aloft each time he came to the surface.

131

O-GO AND THWACKER

THERE had been a series of rains of a
severity unusual at that season of the
year. As a result of this downpour,
there was deep water for several miles up the
creek, which led into Patou Pond. Now, if
ever, was the time for O-Go to go exploring
in that direction, and he intended to do so.
He had already started out once, but had been
turned back by the eagle. This time, he would
not make the mistake of travelling in daylight.

132

There is always danger to a beaver in leav¬
ing a territory with which he is entirely famil¬
iar. In his own neighborhood, he knows all
the hiding places in which an enemy may lurk;
he also knows all the places in which he may
seek shelter in time of danger. Therefore, he
is less likely to make a wrong turning that may
lead him into peril. Old beavers seem to know
this; and they seldom wander far from the
vicinity of their own lodges.

O-Go, however, was still young, and as he
was adventurous to a degree not common
among his kind, the waters above Patou were
a constant lure to him. Where O-Go went,
Thwacker would go. Hence, a very few eve¬
nings after O-Go’s escape from the eagle, the
two friends were swimming up that creek.

The two young beavers found the current
less swift than might have been expected; and
so had plenty of opportunity to examine the
bank, as they went along. They swam without
any noise, as beavers always do; and, from time
to time, they paused to listen for a moment.

Once, O-Go and Thwacker looked up to
see a doe, who came to the water's edge, ac¬
companied by two spotted fawns. O-Go and
Thwacker knew that she was harmless to
them; and she, in turn, realized that no evil
menaced her or her little ones; for she regarded
them calmly, as she and the fawns drank their

133

fill. Then, as quietly as they had come, the
three deer faded into the night-bound forest.

Farther up the stream, O-Go and his com¬
panion came to a sandbar. There, at the side
of the creek, sat a large, ring- tailed raccoon,
busily engaged in washing some bit of food.
He also ignored the explorers, for they were
harmless, and were, moreover, far too large for
him to consider them as a possible prey. He
finished his task, and then settled to his eating,
as O-Go and Thwacker passed on upstream.

All about them, the night was a series of
silences, studded with sounds that told the story
of the forest. Now, from a distant hilltop,
came the querulous complaint of a coyote,
mourning to the white moon; now, close at
hand, was heard the startled squeak of a mouse,
as it was pounced upon by some questing owl;
or the cry of a rabbit, victim of the blood¬
thirsty weasel. Over all brooded the great
forest, the murmur of its treetops emphasizing,
rather than breaking, the stillness of the night.

The moon had hidden her beauty behind
the western hills, and the creek lay entirely in
shadow, when O-Go and Thwacker came into
shallow water. Above them loomed a dam,
like the one which retained the waters of their
own pond, but apparently shorter and some¬
what higher. Its outer surface was a jumbled
mass of sticks, tangled together in an inde-

134

scribable manner. Its top was a smoothly packed
expanse of mud, on which a solitary beaver
sat sentinel. He both saw and smelled the two
visitors; but, as they were of his own kind,
he neither dived nor gave warning.

The pond, which O-Go and Thwacker
found there, was not so large as the one from
which they had come, but its size was suffi¬
cient for the needs of its colony, which was
housed in a single large lodge. O-Go and
Thwacker had never seen a beaver house of
such great size, for those on Patou Pond were
single- family lodges, while this one was occu¬
pied by three distinct groups.

If the beavers of the upper dam were sur¬
prised at the visit of the two young friends,
they in no way showed it; but permitted O-Go
and Thwacker to go where they would, mak¬
ing no protest even when the strangers passed
in and out of the lodge. Had O-Go and
Thwacker wished to do so, they might have
settled down in that colony as part of its regu¬
lar membership.

This, however, the two friends had no in¬
tention of doing; their visit was entirely one
of curiosity. Perhaps, they would come again;
but, just now the night was too far advanced
for them to delay longer. They climbed down
the dam, and drifted slowly with the stream,
returning to the lodges of their parents.

135

THE CLOUDBURST

OGO and Thwacker went up Patou
Creek a number of times after that
first visit, and learned to know every
foot of both banks from their own pond to
the upper dam. They always found the beavers
they met upstream to be as friendly as those
of the home pond. However, the high water
gradually went down; so that in time there
were several places, where it was impossible
to travel without being open to attack from

136

the bank. Accordingly, the two friends gave
up their visits for a while.

They did not, however, cease going up the
creek as far as the bend, which lay about a
mile above Patou Pond; since for that dis¬
tance there was still reasonably deep water.

The bend was a delightful place. On one
side, there lay a great sandbar, thickly over¬
grown with bushy willows, whose tender
shoots made delicious eating. On the other side,
was a bank about ten feet high, beneath which
lay a little cave, where O-Go and Thwacker
could drowse away the long day, whenever
they did not desire to go home. The cave had
of course no tunnel leading into it; but the
bank above it projected out over the creek,
thereby giving protection from any wander¬
ing lynx or coyote.

The coolness of their cave was particularly
pleasing to O-Go and Thwacker on a certain
day in early September; for the weather was
unusually hot, even for that season. The two
friends lay stretched at full length on the soft,
dry sand, now idly napping, now chewing
indolently at the sticks, which they had
brought with them into their shelter.

From time to time, they heard the rumble
of thunder, but they paid little or no attention
to it, nor to the fact that it kept getting louder
and closer. They had no fear of rain, for most

137

of their waking hours were spent in the water.

Suddenly, a great roaring reached their ears,
and, almost immediately thereafter, the cave
was filled with swirling water. Instantly, O-Go
and Thwacker plunged into the creek, only
to be caught in a rushing torrent, which hurled
them hither and yon, buffeting them terribly.
A cloud-burst from the hills above had them
in its grip.

It was impossible to swim in that mad rush
of water. All that O-Go and Thwacker could
do was to keep their noses above the surface,
and much of the time they could not do even
that. It was fortunate that they were not
pounded to death by the rocks rolled along in
the terrible current, or brained by blows of the
uprooted trees, which were tossed about as
though they were as light as straws.

As it was, O-Go and Thwacker received a
severe beating during their swift ride on the
crest of the turbulent waters. From start to
finish of their wild journey, neither caught
sight of the other; and it was not until the
next evening that O-Go knew that his friend
still lived.

The cloud-burst had been a matter of only
a few minutes duration, but the damage done
by it had been tremendous; for, despite the
retarding effect of the wide pond, a great tree
trunk had been hurled with mighty force

138

All they could do was to keep their noses
above the surface

against the dam. Through the gap thus formed,
the water had poured, tearing away the earth
as it passed; and when the flood had subsided,
the surface of Patou Pond had been lowered
nearly two feet.

The area of the pond had been reduced
nearly one half by the disaster. The canals were
almost empty of water, and the woods, which
had formerly reached the shore, were now hun¬
dreds of feet back from it. Acres of mud flats
stretched where there had once been shallow
water; and the muskrats, who dwelt at the
west end of the pond, found their houses en¬
tirely exposed. Their misfortune was proba¬
bly a benefit to the beavers; since the coyotes
found them a comparatively easy prey, and
therefore did not seek to molest the beavers.

Nevertheless, the peril to the beavers was
grave. They could no longer travel in con¬
cealment through the canal that led into their
slashing; nor could they work in the woods,
secure in the knowledge that the sheltering
water was but a step or two away. At any
moment, some enemy might pounce upon one
of them from the underbrush, and the clumsy
beaver would fall an easy victim.

The warm weather would soon be over,
and the sap would then descend into the roots
of the trees, making the bark of their branches
almost worthless to the colony. Before that

141

time should come, it was necessary for the
beavers to store a vast amount of food. Trees
must be felled, and must be stripped of their
limbs. Those limbs must be cut into suitable
lengths, and must be stored beneath the water.
In this work, it was the custom of all the
beavers to take part.

This year, however, only a part of the col¬
ony could assist in laying in supplies for the
winter. The young ones of the colony must
be kept close to the lodges, instead of being
brought into the slashing by their parents as
O-Go, Ilg, and Ela had been the previous year.
Moreover, the mother beavers were unable to
leave the lodges even long enough to bring
food for the day, as the land was now so close
at hand that the little ones might wander ashore
and into danger, even in that short interval.

The number of beavers able to work at gath¬
ering food for storage was also cut down in
another way. Workers were needed to repair
the dam, or else the fall rains would be wasted,
and winter find Patou Pond at its present low
level. If that were to happen, the entrances
to the lodges would be left above frost-level.
Then the beavers would be frozen in, and
would starve in their houses, no matter how
much food lay in storage a few yards away.

Not only was there a scarcity of labor, but
the actual work of storage was more than

142

doubled. The beavers could no longer float
their foodsticks down the canal, letting the
water do most of the work. They must drag
each stick across a muddy district nearly two
hundred yards wide, before it could be launched
at all. Sticks, which one beaver could handle
with ease in the water, required all the strength
of two workers, when transported by land.
Twice as many guards were now needed, as
were required when the workers had the shelter
of the canal; but these could not be spared.
The extra risk had to be taken.

O-Go, Ela, and Thwacker did their full
share in all this work, laboring long hours in
the slashing or at the dam. Even the lazy Ilg
seemed to realize the need for industry, and
worked as he never had worked before. His
strength was as great as was that of the others
of his age, and though he did not keep at it
as persistently as they did, he helped.

In spite of the heroic efforts of the colony,
the amount of food placed in storage that year
was pitifully small. Had the winter that came
upon them been as long protracted as the one
preceding it, few of the beavers of Patou Pond
would have lived through it. However, spring
arrived a full three weeks ahead of schedule.
It found them all poorly nourished and weak,
but still alive and ready to face whatever might
await them.

143

O-GO AND HIS MATE

SEASONS had come and gone, and
through them all O-Go had grown and
prospered. Now, at four years of age,
he was one of the largest beavers in the colony
on Patou Pond. From tip to tip, he was over
forty inches long, though his spade-like tail
made up ten of those inches. His weight was
over fifty pounds, and his fur the finest a beaver
could have. That means that no animal of any
sort could have a coat better than his.

144

His teeth, too, were perfect, his four orange-
colored incisors forming a self-sharpening set of
chisels that could fell any tree suited to his
purpose; or strip from its branches the bark,
which his sixteen powerful molars quickly re¬
duced to a pulp ready for digestion.

Although it was now the first of May, the
season had been so retarded that O-Go still
retained most of his soft underfur; but much
of the layer of fat, which had underlain his skin
at the beginning of the winter, was by now
absorbed. It had gone to make up for the sim¬
plicity of a diet limited to the bark of sticks
fetched by him from the storage pile. Later
in the year, O-Go would weigh four or five
pounds more, but his fur would have lost,
for the time being, much of its rich beauty.

Ela and her mate lived at the old home lodge,
along with Father and Mother Beaver; but
O-Go and Ilg no longer stayed there. They had
left home a year ago, when their new brother
and sisters had arrived, and they had not re¬
turned. Ilg made his home permanently at the
lodge of Uncle Castor. O-Go, too, was stay¬
ing there for the present, though he had a lodge
of his own, to which he would soon return.

It was a good thing that Ilg had never mated,
for he was that rare type, a lazy beaver. He
seemed never to feel any desire to cut down
big trees; to clear away underbrush, in order

145

to make a skidway to the water; or to make
repairs on the dam. His front teeth grew as
rapidly as did those of other beavers; but he
gave them their needed wear in as easy a man¬
ner as he could. He was a tremendous eater,
and that did part of it. Besides, he spent much
time in the idle gnawing of sticks.

If the other members of the colony felt any
strong disapproval of Ilg’s laziness, they did
nothing to show the fact; they tolerated him,
making no effort to force him to share in their
labor. He lived in his Uncle Castor’s lodge,
helped himself to sticks that others had placed
in storage, and dined handsomely on the top
branches of trees which they had felled. He
brazenly helped himself to a full share of the
pond lily roots, for which they had dived; yet
they never struck him, or even attempted to
shove him aside. Ilg lived on colony charity.

Now, Ilg lay on the floor of Uncle Castor’s
lodge. He was munching the bark of a stick;
one which O-Go had brought home from the
storage pile, intending it for his own supper.
O-Go, who was fully as large as Ilg, and far
more active, could easily have defended his
property; but he had not done so. O-Go had
never in his life fought with any beaver, and
would not bother to do so now. It was less
trouble to go for another supply of food.

O-Go entered the tunnel, dived through the

146

water at the base of it, and came up to the
moonlit surface of Patou Pond. Then, swim¬
ming strongly with his webbed hind feet, while
his fore paws hung almost motionless, he set
out for the dam. There were willows growing
there, and they were already green with the
sweet, strongly-pulsing sap of early spring.
“They would be very good,” thought O-Go.

Soon he was at the dam, and was climbing
from the water. He selected a fine young sap¬
ling, and brought it down with half a dozen
bites of his powerful incisors. Here was a meal
fit for any beaver, and there was no greedy Ilg,
waiting to cheat him of it. He would have that
sapling all to himself.

O-Go was wrong in that idea. Another bea¬
ver appeared at his side, and with her there
were three little ones. These were no larger than
O-Go, himself, had been four years before.

Immediately, the mother beaver and her
three little ones began to eat at the sapling,
which O-Go had felled for himself; while he,
without protest, went on guard duty. He sat
bolt upright on top of the dam, his coin-like
little ears keen to catch any hostile sound, his
nostrils alert to detect any hostile odor. He
must see to it that no evil came near his mate
or their helpless little ones.

From far away down the creek, which
flowed from the eastern end of the dam, there

147

came to O-Go a whiff of man-odor. It would
be well for him to keep a close watch, lest the
person bearing that odor come too close.

All-a-quiver, O-Go waited. Yes; the man
was approaching. Now, he was only a hun¬
dred yards away; but there was, as yet, no
danger, for the dark water lay only a foot
or two distant. Therefore, O-Go still waited,
hearing every move the man made, despite the
latter’s effort to move silently.

Finally, only twenty-five yards from where
O-Go sat, the man halted. Then, softly, very
softly, he gave the low whistle, with which
of old he had called O-Go to receive his gifts.
By the moonlight, he could just make out the
form of a beaver on the dam before him. “It
must be O-Go,” thought he. “No other beaver
would so long have remained that close to a
human being.”

Wallace repeated that soft whistle, and this
time took a cautious step forward, holding his
hand before him. In that hand was a potato.

O-Go waited no longer. He thwacked and
dived. When he came up, he was many feet
from the dam, and was swimming away. He
was returning, with his mate and their little
ones, to his lodge among the willows.

148