the superintendent's voice ; constantly I watched 

 to see the overseer move among them; but I 

 listened and watched in vain. Yet I feel that 

 some of the patriarchal fellows must have car- 

 ried a general plan of the work, and that during 

 its progress orders and directions that I could 

 not comprehend were given from time to time. 

 The work was at its height a little before mid- 

 day. Nowadays it is rare for a beaver to work 

 in daylight. Men and guns have prevented day- 

 light workers from leaving descendants. These 

 not only worked but played by day. One morn- 

 ing for more than an hour there was a general 

 frolic, in which the entire population appeared 

 to take part. They raced, dived, crowded in 

 general mix-ups, whacked the water with their 

 tails, wrestled, and dived again. There were 

 two or three play-centres, but the play went 

 on without intermission, and as their position 

 constantly changed, the merrymakers splashed 

 water all over the main pond before they calmed 

 down and in silence returned to work. I gave 

 most attention to the harvesters, who felled the 

 aspens and moved them, bodily or in sections, 



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