92 Ways of Wood Folk. 



began to swim round, examining the queer pole on 

 every side. "What kind of a stick are you, anyway?" 

 one was thinking. " You did n't grow here, because 

 I would have found you long ago." " And you 're 

 not frozen into the ice," said the other, " because you 

 wriggle." Then they both took hold again, and I 

 began to haul up carefully. I wanted to see them 

 nearer. That surprised them immensely ; but I think 

 they would have held on only for an accident. The 

 blanket slipped away; a stream of light shot in; 

 there were two great whirls in the water; and that 

 was the end of the experiment. They did not come 

 back, though I waited till I was almost frozen. But 

 I cut some fresh birch and pushed it under the ice 

 to pay for my share in the entertainment. 



The beaver's house is generally the last thing 

 attended to. He likes to build this when the nights 

 grow cold enough to freeze his mortar soon after it 

 is laid. Two or three tunnels are dug from the 

 bottom of the beaver pond up through the bank, 

 coming to the surface together at the point where 

 the center of the house is to be. Around this he 

 lays solid foundations of log and stone in a circle 

 from six to fifteen feet in diameter, according to the 

 number of beavers to occupy the house. On these 

 foundations he rears a thick mass of sticks and grass, 

 which are held together by plenty of mud. The top 



