92 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



their powerful teeth, are usually unable to cope with 

 them. In water they are the only four-footed 

 enemy that beavers dread. On land everything is 

 different, for apparently the land is not their natural 

 habitat. 



Toward the end of August, the beavers were 

 very comfortably settled, their pond was fully two 

 hundred yards long and seventy or eighty wide. 

 The supply of water brought down by the brook 

 was sufficient for their needs, and they were engaged 

 in cutting passages through the partly submerged 

 grassy tussocks for the purpose of reaching the 

 wooded shores with greater ease. Everything 

 promised well when a prolonged spell of rain caused 

 them great anxiety. The stream increased its 

 volume until it was a raging torrent which swept 

 all before it, clearing the banks of any debris that 

 had been deposited by the spring floods. The dams, 

 whose crests were many inches under the water, 

 were threatened with complete destruction. Some- 

 thing must be done, and done soon, and the beavers 

 did the only thing possible under the conditions. 

 They tore open a great gap in the larger structure. 

 It was a dangerous task, for the pressure of the 

 water was terrific. However, by working carefully 

 they succeeded in liberating an immense volume of 

 water and so saved the dams. These were again 

 repaired as soon as the flood subsided, when the 

 entire work was not only strengthened but increased 

 to a still greater height, so that it was nearly five 



