THE BEAVERS OF BEAVER CREEK 



Full Moon lay some distance down the 

 stream, stretched upon the bank watching an 

 owl catch a weasel for his midnight feast. He 

 heard the crashing noise made by the falling 

 tree and wondered if some one was stealing his 

 father's timber. He arose and quietly crept 

 along in his moccasin-covered feet in the direc- 

 tion whence the noise came. Presently he 

 came to the stub of the tree-trunk which was 

 on the edge of the bank with many chips scat- 

 tered about. Across the stream lay the stately 

 tree with its top branches far upon the opposite 

 bank. But where was the lumberman thief? 

 Full Moon was puzzled. He put his ear to 

 the ground and listened ; there was no sound 

 of distant footsteps. Then he picked up some 

 of the chips that lay near the tree and examined 

 them closely with his sharp, black eyes by the 

 light of the moon. He found a little ridge 

 down the middle of the face of each chip as 

 though the axe that made it had a deep notch 

 in it. Next he carefully scrutinized the chips 

 on the other side of the stump and found them 

 similarly marked but the ridges were not so 

 wide nor deep and the chips were too small to 

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