CHESELLING AND SHOOTING BEAVER. 145 



suppose knowing this was his last stand he 

 would not attempt to leave the back part of the 

 hole no matter how much I poked the chisel in 

 about him. So while the Indian kept a close 

 and alert watch at the mouth of the "wash," I 

 made a large opening at the back and slipped 

 in one of the dogs. In a moment beaver and 

 dog were both out at the entrance fighting in 

 the water. The beaver fastened his terrible 

 teeth in the dog's lip. The Indian and I each 

 managed to grasp a hind leg, a long pull and out 

 came beaver and dog together. We had to force 

 his teeth apart after killing him before the dog 



was free. 



# * 



I mentioned in a previous article that I 

 would at some future time tell of i;he part a 

 beaver-dam enacts in the successful shooting of 

 the beaver. 



As I said, the beaver has to keep a jealous 

 watch on the dam to preserve the proper height 

 of the water at their lodge. They make nightly 

 visits to see all is well, just as a faithful watch- 

 man goes his rounds of the factory over which 

 he has charge. 



Any sudden falling of water brings the bea- 

 ver down post haste to the dam to repair the 

 damage or leak. Often an otter is the cause 

 of the trouble, as they sometimes bore a pass- 



10 



