16 MOOSWA 



declared Muskrat ; &quot; I 11 tell you what Beaver 

 does with the sticks under water, and then you 11 

 understand.&quot; 



Black King yawned as though all this bored 

 him. &quot;He doesn t like to hear his rival 

 praised,&quot; sneered Whisky-Jack ; &quot; it makes him 

 sleepy.&quot; 



&quot; Well,&quot; continued Wuchusk, &quot; Beaver floats 

 the Poplar down to his pond, to a little place just 

 up stream from his lodge, with a nice, soft bottom. 

 There he dives swiftly with each piece, and the 

 small round end you speak of, Mooswa, sticks in 

 the mud, see ? Oh, it is clever ; I wish I could 

 do it, but I can t. I have to rummage around 

 all Winter for my dinner. All the sticks stand 

 there close together on end ; the ice forms on top 

 of the water, and nobody can see them. When 

 Umisk wants his dinner, he swims up the pond, 

 selects a nice, fat, juicy Poplar, pulls it out of the 

 mud, floats it in the front door of his pretty, 

 round-roofed lodge, strips off the rough covering, 

 and eats the white, mealy inner-bark. It s 

 delicious ! No wonder Beaver is fat.&quot; 



&quot; I should think it would be indigestible,&quot; said 

 Lynx. &quot; But is n t Umisk kind to his family 

 dear little Chap ! &quot; 



&quot; Must be hard on the teeth,&quot; remarked Mink. 

 &quot; I find fishbones tough enough.&quot; 



