112 THE STORY OF THE TRAPPER 



They can crouch there till the awful shadow goes away. 

 Exactly. That is what the man has been counting on. 

 He will come to them afterward. 



The old beavers make no such mistake. They have 

 tried the hollow-log trick with an enemy pursuing them 

 to the blind end, and have escaped only because some 

 other beaver was eaten. 



The old ones know that water alone is safety. 



That is the first and last law of beaver life. They, 

 too, see that phantom destroyer above the ice; but a 

 dash past is the last chance. How many of the beaver 

 escape past the cut in the dam to the water below, de 

 pends on the dexterity of the trapper s aim. But cer 

 tainly, for the most, one blow is the end; and that one 

 blow is less cruel to them than the ravages of the wolf 

 or wolverine in spring, for these begin to eat before 

 they kill. 



A signal, and the dog ceases to keep guard above 

 the dam. Where is the runway in which the others 

 are hiding? The dog scampers round aimlessly, but 

 begins to sniff and run in a line and scratch and whim 

 per. The man sees that the dog is on the trail of sag 

 ging snow, and the sag betrays ice settling down where 

 a channel has run dry. The trapper cuts a hole across 

 the river end of the runway and drives down stakes. 

 The young beavers are now prisoners. 



The human mind can t help wondering why the fool 

 ish youngsters didn t crouch below the ice above the 

 dam and lie there in safe hiding till the monster went 

 away. This may be done by the hermit beavers fel 

 lows who have lost their mates and go through life 

 inconsolable; or sick creatures, infested by parasites 

 and turned off to house in the river holes ; or fat, selfish 



