time should come, it was necessary for the 
beavers to store a vast amount of food. Trees 
must be felled, and must be stripped of their 
limbs. Those limbs must be cut into suitable 
lengths, and must be stored beneath the water. 
In this work, it was the custom of all the 
beavers to take part. 
This year, however, only a part of the col¬ 
ony could assist in laying in supplies for the 
winter. The young ones of the colony must 
be kept close to the lodges, instead of being 
brought into the slashing by their parents as 
O-Go, Ilg, and Ela had been the previous year. 
Moreover, the mother beavers were unable to 
leave the lodges even long enough to bring 
food for the day, as the land was now so close 
at hand that the little ones might wander ashore 
and into danger, even in that short interval. 
The number of beavers able to work at gath¬ 
ering food for storage was also cut down in 
another way. Workers were needed to repair 
the dam, or else the fall rains would be wasted, 
and winter find Patou Pond at its present low 
level. If that were to happen, the entrances 
to the lodges would be left above frost-level. 
Then the beavers would be frozen in, and 
would starve in their houses, no matter how 
much food lay in storage a few yards away. 
Not only was there a scarcity of labor, but 
the actual work of storage was more than 
142 
