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 débris. True enough, they would find much 
material among the windfalls that could be utilised, 
