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care-free, they dozed away the windy winter days 

 while the lake was held in waveless ice beneath 

 the drifting snow. 



The next summer a house was built in the lily 

 pads near the shore. Here a number of children 

 were born during the few tranquil years that fol- 

 lowed. These times came to an end one bright 

 midsummer day. Lord Dunraven had a ditch 

 cut in the outlet rim of the lake with the inten- 

 tion of draining it that his fish ponds, several 

 miles below in his Estes Park game-preserve, 

 might have water. A drouth had prevailed for 

 several months, and a new water-supply must be 

 had or the fish ponds would go dry. The water 

 poured forth through the ditch, and the days of 

 the colony appeared to be numbered. 



A beaver must have water for safety and for 

 the ease of movement of himself and his supplies. 

 He is skillful in maintaining a dam and in reg- 

 ulating the water-supply; these two things re- 

 quire much of his time. In Lily Lake the dam 

 and the water question had been so nicely con- 

 trolled by nature that with these the colonists 

 had had nothing to do. However, they still knew 

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