place they had hurriedly taken refuge in the 

 stream. Coyote tracks in the scattered ashes ex- 

 plained this. But after going a short distance 

 they had climbed from the water and again 

 traveled the ashy earth. 



Beavers commonly follow water routes, but in 

 times of emergency or in moments of audacity 

 they will journey overland. To have followed 

 this stream down to its first tributary, then up 

 this to where the colony in which they found 

 refuge was situated, would have required four 

 miles of travel. Overland it was less than a mile. 

 After following the stream for some distance, at 

 just the right place they turned off, left the 

 stream, and dared the overland dangers. How 

 did they know the situation of the colony in the 

 willows, or that it had escaped fire, and how 

 could they have known the shortest, best way 

 to it? 



The morning after the arrival of the refugees, 

 work was begun on two new houses and a dam, 

 which was about sixty feet in length and built 

 across a grassy open. Green cuttings of willow, 

 aspen, and alder were used in its construction. 



163 



