188 CANADIAN WILDS. 



waited looking toward the shore, where I ex- 

 pected he would next come to view. Minutes 

 passed and no sign, I turned about in the canoe 

 thinking possibly he had doubled under. Not 

 ten feet from the stern of the canoe, there was 

 Mr. Beaver, dead without my firing a shot, 

 dead from his wounds. I pulled him into the 

 canoe and paddled back and picked up the otter. 



After getting ashore and examining them 

 both carefully and again when skinning them, 

 I found the beaver had died of his terrible 

 wounds and no doubt the otter was in the last 

 throes of his life also, when I gave him his quit- 

 tance. The hair and skin on their bellies were 

 much scratched and cut up by the sharp, hard 

 claws of their hind feet. Their necks were one 

 mass of teeth marks, and the jugular veins in 

 each were pierced. Both would have died of 

 their wounds in a little while, without the use 

 of the gun, had I withheld my fire for a few 

 minutes, for they were fast bleeding to death. 



I ascertained afterwards that this beaver 

 had been the only one in the lake; the otter no 

 doubt had driven him out of his house, and not 

 content with this had pursued him, courting 

 battle. In the fight that ensued, of which I had 

 been a witness, both had met their death. 

 * * * 



The sight I witnessed some years ago is so 



