ABOUT BEAVER. 239 



sioned quite an animated discussion, which was soon merged into angry- 

 dispute ; and, after amusing myself awhile at their expense, I unravelled 

 the mystery, to the surprise of all. 



" Can it be possible !" was the general exclamation, — " can it be possible 

 that we should have slept so sound as not to hear the report of a rifle fired 

 three times in succession, and under our very ears, at that!" 



" This reminds me," said one, "of dreaming that somebody fired du- 

 ring the night. But it seemed so much like other dreams I had forgotten 

 it till now." 



" Well," retorted a second, " we are a pretty set of customers to live 

 in a dangerous country ! Why, a single Indian might have come into camp 

 and killed the whole of us, one after another, with all the ease imaginable !" 



The above incident induced the narration of a circumstance, happening 

 to an individual of my acquaintance two or three weeks previous. 



He had been into the mountains after deer, and was on his return to 

 the Fort for afresh supply of ammunition, and, having occasion to camp out 

 at night, like a genuine mountaineer, he took his saddle for a pillow. 

 This, being covered with raw hide, excited the cupidity of a marauding 

 wolf. 



The hungry beast felt ill-disposed to let slip an opportunity thus favora- 

 ble for appeasing his appetite with a dry morsel, and so, gently drawing it 

 from beneath the head of the unconscious sleeper, he bore off his prize 

 to devour it at his leisure. 



In the morning our hero awoke minus saddle, and nothing save a num- 

 ber of wolf-tracks at his head furnished clue to the mystery of its disap- 

 pearance ; and, after spending several hours in fruitless search, neither 

 hide or hair of it could be found. 



In the river bank near camp were two lodges of beaver, whose saga- 

 cious occupants gave frequent indications of their industrious habits by 

 the magnitude of their performances. Several trees, ten or twelve inches 

 in diameter, had been freshly felled by them to furnish their families 

 with food. 



In such operations they exhibit an instinctive intelligence well-nigh ap- 

 proaching to reason. They uniformerly select trees that stand above 

 their lodges, in order to avail themselves of the current in conveying their 

 timber to the destined place of deposit. 



When a tree is thus chosen, the cautious little animal first carefully 

 notices the point towards which its top inclines, and then sets himself to 

 work at the opposite side. As his task approaches its completion, he fre- 

 quently retires a short distance to observe the direction in which the tree is 

 likely to fall, by watching its motions, and renews his labors with great cau- 

 tion. Upon the first indication of the finale, like an experienced woodsman, 

 he instantly withdraws beyond the reach of danger, and leaves the tottering 

 forest-monarch to announce his fallen greatness in the awful crash by 

 which he is bespread upon the ground. 



The process of chopping is then performed by severing the trunk into 

 blocks, some three feet m length, suitable for transportation, which are 

 severally taken to the " slide " and rolled into the stream, by the cunning 



