entrances are deep under
water, you know, so that the ice can't clog them in winter, and so that
the beavers can get to their food all right."

"What do they eat, Charley? Do you know?"

"Sure. They eat roots, and tender plants, but mostly bark from certain
trees. I believe these are willow, poplar, birch, and some others. They
cut down the wood in summer and pile it under water in front of their
huts and hold it down with stones."

"Well, what do you think of that!" cried Lew.

"They eat a pile of it, too. I don't remember how many trees that article
said a colony of beavers would eat in a winter, but I'm sure it was up in
the hundreds. I remember how astonished I was when I read about it."

"No wonder they clear the forest so fast. I wonder if we ought to tell Mr.
Marlin. Maybe he doesn't know about these beavers. They might begin to cut
down his virgin pines. I'm sure he wouldn't want that to happen."

Charley laughed. "I'd bet my last dollar that Mr. Marlin knows all about
these beavers. You can bank on it that he knows all there is to know about
the territory he has charge of. And as for the beavers eating the pines,
it seems to me that I read that they never touch evergreens."

A ray of sun slipped through the leaves above them and fell directly upon
Charley's face. He glanced up and was surprised to note how high the sun
had climbed. Then he looked at his watch.

"Gee whiz!" he cried. "We must have been fooling around this beaver dam
for more than an hour. We must be about our business. We'll go on and
locate the boundary line."

"I wish we could get a glimpse of a beaver," sighed Lew.

"Not much use to wish it," said Charley. "They're furtive, and I suppose
they will stay in their lodges for hours. It seems to me I read that they
work at their dams mostly at night. We'll go on now, but maybe we could
come up here some moonlight evening and see them at work."

They made their way around the beaver dam and continued on up the valley.
Within a few hundred yards they came upon a blazed tree. Speedily they
discovered a second. Then, following the line indicated by these two
trees, they rapidly passed tree after tree blazed and painted white,
tracing the line entirely across the valley. They picked out some
landmarks by which they could readily locate the line again.

"If anybody except those beavers starts any timber cutting," said Charley,
"we'll know in a second whether he's cutting the state's wood or