strength and courage.

IN THE BEAVERS' LODGE

Ahmeek, the beaver, swimming slowly with only his eyes and the tip of
his nose above the water, came to a stop at a spot where the shores of
the stream were low and flat. He was soon joined by his mate and the two
clambered out upon the bank where they looked about with satisfaction.

It was an ideal location for a beaver settlement. Poplars, yellow
birches and willows on the banks offered material for a dam and assured
an abundance of winter food; the low banks would enable the stream to
spread out, making a pond deep enough to prevent freezing to the bottom
in winter; best of all, it was a lonely spot where there was no evidence
of man.

Dusk had fallen like a gray mantle upon the wilderness when the beavers
began their work. Ahmeek selected a poplar to his liking, not far from
the bank of the stream. Grasping the trunk with his hand-like paws and
turning his head to one side in order to bring his great cutting teeth
into play, he bit out a huge chunk, following it with another and
another until the tree swayed and crashed to the ground. Then both
beavers set to work to strip it of branches and lay the foundations for
the dam.

The dam, when finished, was a work worthy of a trained engineer. The
twigs and trunks of trees Ahmeek and his mate laid lengthwise with the
current. On the upper face, where the force of the water would but drive
it the more tightly, the mass was plastered and bound together with a
cement of mud and stones, which in the freezing days of winter would
become impenetrable. Here again the beavers showed their wisdom by
leaving several low places over which the water could trickle, thus
relieving the pressure that otherwise would have broken the dam. Now the
stream overflowed its low banks, making a deep pond, soon to become the
home of pickerel and trout and of a great colony of water-lilies, a
delicacy for the beaver larder.

The next work was the construction of the lodge, a hollow mound of mud,
sticks and stones twelve feet in width and four in height, within which
was a dry room, its floor safely above the high-water mark. Two passages
led to this room, one straight, for carrying food, the other winding.
The main entrance was cleverly concealed beneath the roots of a great
tree which had fallen across the stream.

[Illustration: The dam, when finished, was a work worthy of a trained
engineer.]

Ahmeek and his mate were soon joined