of 



beavers in the front ranks were jumping into 

 the pond, while the others were awkwardly 

 speeding down the slope. The coyote had killed 

 three. If beavers have a language, surely that 

 night the refugees related to their hospitable 

 neighbors some thrilling experiences. 



The next morning I returned to the Moraine 

 Colony over the route followed by the refugees. 

 Leaving their fire-ruined homes, they had fol- 

 lowed the stream that issued from their ponds. 

 In places the channel was so clogged with fire 

 wreckage that they had followed alongside the 

 water rather than in it, as is their wont. At one 

 place they had hurriedly taken refuge in the 

 stream. Coyote tracks in the scattered ashes 

 explained this. But after going a short distance 

 they had climbed from the water and again 

 traveled the ashy earth. 



Beavers, like fish, 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 



30 



