other campers on the pond so we won- 

 dered who could have cut down that 

 poplar, and why? We went ashore to 

 investigate. The tree we found was 

 about four inches in diameter at the butt 

 and it had not been chopped, but had 

 been gnawed off. The ground about 

 the stump was strewn with chips and 

 one branch had been gnawed off and 

 carried away. The tooth marks on the 

 stump were like those on the bow of our 

 boat, and looked as if made by a curved 

 chisel about a quarter inch wide. The 

 chips were from two to four inches long 

 and were clean cut on each end and split 

 out as if they had come from a wood 

 chopper's axe. 



Bige said, "Gosh! that looks like the 

 work of beaver, but there are no beaver 

 in these woods, haven't been any here 

 for sixty years." 



A few minutes later we found the 

 branch which had been cut from the 

 fallen poplar floating on the water near 

 shore opposite the island. The bark 



10 



