86 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
about as the fancy seized them. The place offered 
great attractions to the house-hunting couple, and 
they were half inclined to settle there. They even 
went so far as to commence building a lodge on a 
small wooded point which jutted out into the water. 
The two outlets to the lake they saw could be easily 
dammed if necessary, so everything, including 
an unlimited supply of wood, suggested the 
advisability of making this their home. But one 
evening just as they had come out of a burrow near 
the foundations of their lodge, they were startled by 
a strange sound, human voices laughing and talking. 
Soon two queer objects came around the point of 
land, and the beavers saw two canoes ; the graceful 
lines of the dark green canvas-covered craft did not 
appeal to them. What could they be? No such 
animals had they seen in all their travels, and so 
they lay immovable on the surface of the quiet 
water, and watched the canoes as they glided along. 
Closer and closer they came, when suddenly the air 
was tainted with the fearsome scent of man, that 
which above all things was most to be dreaded. 
Instinctively both of the silent watchers raised'their 
tails and struck the water with a resounding smack 
which scattered the water high in the air, so that 
the countless drops reflecting the glorious colours 
of the setting sun resembled a golden shower. The 
beavers vanished beneath the disturbed water and 
sought safety in the dense tangle of brush with 
which the shore was lined, while the people in the 
