THE LIFE OF A BEAVER COLONY 123 



from its moorings. For two days and two nights 

 the gale raged without a pause, and during that 

 time the beavers kept in their lodges, for well they 

 knew the dangers of falling timber. At last the 

 storm passed, and the roaring of the wind and 

 creaking of the trees gave place once more to the 

 wonderful, overpowering stillness of the forest 

 lands. Once more the pond reflected the beauties 

 of the encircling woods. But a great change had 

 taken place in the appearance of the country. 

 Before the storm, the forest was a parti-coloured 

 mass of dark green, golden yellow, orange and 

 scarlet, a shimmering kaleidoscope of colour, but 

 the ramping wind had stripped the branches of their 

 gorgeous coverings, and left the woods a sombre 

 symphony of greys and greens, while the ground 

 was strewn with wind-blown wreaths of brilliant 

 leaves. 



When the beaver came out to see what damage 

 had been done, they found that the lapping water 

 had torn away the upper side of one of the lodges 

 and carried off many large poles that had been laid 

 on the roof. The dam, too, had suffered, and would 

 need countless handfuls of mud to take the place of 

 what had been washed away. A visit to the canal 

 showed how that too had been damaged. Trees 

 growing along its banks had been uprooted and the 

 ditch was made impassable by the fallen branches 

 and debris. True enough, they would find much 

 material among the windfalls that could be utilised, 



