THE BEAVERS OF BEAVER CREEK 



heart wildly beating with expectation, walked 

 toward the creek. By the way he found a bed 

 of wild tansy. He rubbed his moccasins well 

 with the herb, then rolled over and over upon 

 it so as to kill the human odor which the beaver 

 with his keen sense of smell so readily detects. 

 This accomplished, he crept along the bank of 

 the creek until he came to a large cottonwood 

 tree, up which he climbed and went out on one 

 of its largest branches. There he lay flat along 

 the big limb from which he could see up and 

 down the stream and back some distance from 

 its banks. Thus he waited. Presently he 

 noticed a black spot in the water floating toward 

 him. On and on it came. First he thought it 

 was a muskrat, or musquash as he called it, but 

 as it swam nearer he saw the animal was too 

 large for that. It didn't swim like an otter and 

 it was certainly not a mink. Could it be the 

 beaver? The leaves from the branch above 

 swayed in the breeze and slightly obstructed his 

 view. He trembled with excitement and his 

 heart beat so hard he feared the approaching 

 animal might hear it ! If he moved he was sure 

 of being detected. Soon Nature acted more 



