ace of those traps, which still infested its home 
shores. 
Therefore, Wallace set himself to work at 
the job of locating and removing all the traps 
on Patou and its nearby tributaries. In this 
work, he was aided by another ranger of more 
years and of greater experience. This man knew 
just where the traps were most likely to be 
found, and so well did the two work that all 
danger of this sort was removed from O-Go 
and his relatives. 
By the time this had been accomplished, 
winter was close at hand, for it was now well 
into November. Most of the ducks had fol¬ 
lowed the song birds on their long flight to 
the Southland, but more wild geese were com¬ 
ing in at Patou Pond than were leaving. The 
poplar trees were almost naked of leaves; the 
oaks and the birches, a short while before so 
gorgeous in color, were fading to a rusty 
brown; even the pines had begun to assume 
that duller green, which is their winter dress. 
The nights were now really cold, and the morn¬ 
ing sun was reflected in the shimmer of thin 
ice that lay wherever the water was motionless. 
All of these things were without power to 
disturb the beavers. Let winter come, and the 
last of the sap descend into the roots of the 
trees! They had food enough in storage for 
the longest of winters. Let sheet ice blanket 
126 
