half the size of the beaver; besides, his pelt is not so valuable."

"I've seen a beaver caught that weighed almost eighty pounds," said
Raven Wing. "It had beautiful fur and a tail as big as a musquash."

"No fur on its tail," laughed Hawk Eye. "It's covered with rough scales.
Beaver uses it to scull its way through the water."

"I wish the dam were larger," said Raven Wing. "Big dam, many beavers."

"There are plenty of beavers here," said Hawk Eye. "Enough for you and
me unless some hunter comes across it before another snow."

As Raven Wing stepped off the dam and walked upstream along the bank, he
said; "Fearless Bear told the hunters one night when I was in his lodge,
that he had seen a beaver dam near a great body of water that measured
two hundred and sixty feet long and six feet high."

"Might not have been so many beavers at work on it," said Hawk Eye.
"Probably it took a long time to build it."

[Illustration: {Beaver.}]

As the boys strolled along they noted the number of stumps which were
all that remained of the trees which the beavers had cut down and
divided into short lengths, such as could be carried by mouth when
building the dam.

"Sharp teeth to cut these trees," remarked Raven Wing. "Some of these
stumps are two feet thick."

"Did Fearless Bear tell you how the beaver works?" asked Hawk Eye.

"He supports himself by his tail when he rears on his hind legs to cut
down a tree," answered Raven Wing. "With his teeth he cuts the wood as
neatly as a hunter cuts it with his hatchet. No nibbling like a mouse,"
went on Raven Wing, "he makes a neat job, and can even make the tree
fall in the direction he wishes."

"What else did Fearless Bear say?" asked Hawk Eye.

"When the beaver has cut the tree into short lengths he drags the
cuttings to the place where he is to build the dam. He brings the
branches, too, in his mouth and rolls stones along the shore to pile on
them and hold them in place. At first the dam is rough and loose, but
the beavers keep constantly at work, smoothing and pressing it down and
stopping all the gaps with clay and pebbles from the bank. As time goes
on it becomes overgrown with grass and bushes and looks as if it were a
natural bank, just like this one," said Raven Wing.

"After a freshet, beaver must make repairs," remarked Hawk Eye.

[Illustration: {Brave with headdress.}]

"Fearless Bear told me he once made holes in a dam and during the night
watched the beav