136 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
had closed only on one front foot, and that was 
all Joe found in the trap when he came the 
following morning. The beaver had escaped, 
crippled and frightened, and Joe knew that further 
efforts to capture him would be useless, so in utter 
disgust he left the pond which had promised so 
much and given so little. 
The three-footed beaver remained in his lonely 
home throughout the winter, leaving it as soon as 
the ice melted. What became of him after that 
is not known, but if we believe the stories of 
Indians and others whose lives are spent in the 
wilds he remained a lonely widower for the rest 
of his life, wandering about and. living in burrows 
without sufficient ambition to build another lodge. 
This is a pretty fancy which, though not absolutely 
proven, has much to warrant its truth, and it 
shows the humble beaver in a delightful way, 
constant to but one wife whose memory is held 
sacred, if such a word may be allowed when 
speaking of animals. Everything in the beaver’s 
life points to a fine moral nature. Their code of 
living seems high, and they live up to it in most 
cases. Some people deny to animals the know- 
ledge of right and wrong, and by so doing prove 
how little they know of the subject. From the 
smallest bird to the highest form of mammal the 
sense of right and wrong is distinctly evident. 
How far it is developed we can only surmise. For 
almost the only opportunity we have of studying 
