The Builders. 9 1 



When a beaver is hungry in winter he comes down 

 under the ice, selects a stick, carries it up into his 

 house, and eats the bark. Then he carries the peeled 

 stick back under the ice and puts it aside out of the 

 way. 



Once, in winter, it occurred to me that soaking 

 spoiled the flavor of bark, and that the beavers might 

 like a fresh bite. So I cut a hole in the ice on the 

 pool above their dam. Of course the chopping scared 

 the beavers ; it was vain to experiment that day. 

 I spread a blanket and some thick boughs o\er the 

 hole to keep it from freezing over too thickly, and 

 went away. 



Next day I pushed the end of a freshly cut birch 

 pole down among the beavers' store, la}- down with 

 my face to the hole after carefullv cutting out the 

 thin ice, drew a big blanket round my head and the 

 projecting end of the pole to shut out the light, and 

 watched. For a while it was all dark as a pocket ; 

 then I began to see things dimly. Presently a darker 

 shadow shot along the bottom and grabbed the pole. 

 It was a beaver, with a twenty dollar coat on. He 

 tugged; I held on tight — which surprised him so 

 that he went back into his house to catch breath. 



But the taste of fresh bark was in his mouth, and 

 soon he was back with another beaver. Both took 

 hold this time and pulled together. No use ! They 



