92 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
their powerful teeth, are usually unable to cope with 
them. In water they are the only four-footed 
enemy that beavers dread. On land everything is 
different, for apparently the land is not their natural 
habitat. 
Toward the end of August, the beavers were 
very comfortably settled, their pond was fully two 
hundred yards long and seventy or eighty wide. 
The supply of water brought down by the brook 
was sufficient for their needs, and they were engaged 
in cutting passages through the partly submerged 
grassy tussocks for the purpose of reaching the 
wooded shores with greater ease. Everything 
promised well when a prolonged spel of rain caused 
them great anxiety. The stream increased its 
volume until it was a raging torrent which swept 
all before it, clearing the banks of any debris that 
had been deposited by the spring floods. The dams, 
whose crests were many inches under the water, 
were threatened with complete destruction. Some- 
thing must be done, and done soon, and the beavers 
did the only thing possible under the conditions. 
They tore open a great gap in the larger structure. 
It was a dangerous task, for the pressure of the 
water was terrific. However, by working carefully 
they succeeded in liberating an immense volume of 
water and so saved the dams. These were again 
repaired as soon as the flood subsided, when the 
entire work was not only strengthened but increased 
to a still greater height. so that it was nearly five 
