THE BEAVER DAM
During the next few days the boys made good progress. They passed the
Yellow Medicine, Sparrowhawk and Redwood rivers. On the fourth day when
but a few miles above the mouth of the Cottonwood, Raven Wing said: "Let
us go ashore. It is time we ate."
So they beached the canoes on a sandy shore. Hawk Eye took out pemmican
and dried bear meat from a pack and sat down beside Raven Wing. When
their hunger was satisfied, Hawk Eye said:
"I think there may be beavers upstream," pointing to a rivulet that
emptied into the Minnesota a short distance from them. "If so, and there
are many, we can come here later on and get pelts. Shall we see?"
"By all means," agreed Raven Wing. "Let us go at once."
Picking up their bows and arrows, they started off. Following the
winding course of the stream for a considerable distance they came to a
dam which held back the water and formed a fair-sized lake.
At once the boys knew that it had been built by beavers. The Musquash,
sometimes called the muskrat, although it ought to be called the
muskbeaver, because it is really a beaver and no rat at all, never
builds dams nor digs canals. It has a flat tail like the beaver and not
at all resembling the tapering tail of water rat. It builds houses, much
like the beaver's, only smaller.
"We will not forget this spot," chuckled Raven Wing. "We will get many
pelts on our next visit."
"No one shall learn of its location," added Hawk Eye. "We will get the
pelts for ourselves."
"The dam is in fine condition," said Raven Wing, who had climbed up upon
it.
Not a beaver was to be seen, however. The wary animals had dived out of
sight at hearing the boys approach.
[Illustration: THE WARY ANIMALS HAD DIVED OUT OF SIGHT AT HEARING THE
BOYS APPROACH.]
"Fearless Bear once told me," remarked Raven Wing, "that hunters rarely
see beavers building a dam. He says that they build at night and that
it is no easy matter for a hunter to watch them."
"The musquash is easier to hunt," said Hawk Eye. "But he is less than
half the size of the beaver; besides, his pelt is not so valuable."
"I've seen a beaver caught that weighed almost eighty pounds," said
Raven Wing. "It had beautiful fur and a tail as big as a musquash."
"No fur on its tail," laughed Hawk Eye. "It's covered with rough scales.
Beaver uses it to scull its way through the water."
"I wish the dam were larger," said Raven Wing. "Big dam, many beavers."
"There are plenty of beavers here," said Hawk Eye. "Enough for you and
me unless some hunter comes across it before another snow."
As Raven Wing stepped off the dam and walked upstream along the bank, he
said; "Fearless Bear told the hunters one night when I was in his lodge,
that he had seen a beaver dam near a great body of water that measured
two hundred and sixty feet long and six feet high."
"Might not have been so many beavers at work on it," said Hawk Eye.
"Probably it took a long time to build it."
[Illustration: {Beaver.}]
As the boys strolled along they noted the number of stumps which were
all that remained of the trees which the beavers had cut down and
divided into short lengths, such as could be carried by mouth when
building the dam.
"Sharp teeth to cut these trees," remarked Raven Wing. "Some of these
stumps are two feet thick."
"Did Fearless Bear tell you how the beaver works?" asked Hawk Eye.
"He supports himself by his tail when he rears on his hind legs to cut
down a tree," answered Raven Wing. "With his teeth he cuts the wood as
neatly as a hunter cuts it with his hatchet. No nibbling like a mouse,"
went on Raven Wing, "he makes a neat job, and can even make the tree
fall in the direction he wishes."
"What else did Fearless Bear say?" asked Hawk Eye.
"When the beaver has cut the tree into short lengths he drags the
cuttings to the place where he is to build the dam. He brings the
branches, too, in his mouth and rolls stones along the shore to pile on
them and hold them in place. At first the dam is rough and loose, but
the beavers keep constantly at work, smoothing and pressing it down and
stopping all the gaps with clay and pebbles from the bank. As time goes
on it becomes overgrown with grass and bushes and looks as if it were a
natural bank, just like this one," said Raven Wing.
"After a freshet, beaver must make repairs," remarked Hawk Eye.
[Illustration: {Brave with headdress.}]
"Fearless Bear told me he once made holes in a dam and during the night
watched the beavers patch up the damaged places," laughed Raven Wing.
"I wouldn't care to be a beaver," said Hawk Eye. "It must be tiresome to
live under the ice roof of a pond. I've noticed how the beavers sport
and play when the ice breaks up."
Raven Wing turned on his heel and pointed to a beaver lodge. It stood
not far from the bank, its roof above the water line. Both boys were
well aware that the beaver builds the doorway to his lodge well below
the freezing line. As they both stood looking at the deserted lodge,
Raven Wing said; "Beaver often has two openings down deep in the water.
Through these hidden entrances he drags branches and pieces of bark up
to his dining room, which being above the water line, is dry and
comfortable."
"Come," said Hawk Eye. "Let us go back to our canoes now. We have seen
enough for today."
As they strode toward the Minnesota River, Raven Wing said; "I shall
trade some of my pelts for steel traps. With these we can catch the
beaver more easily than by spears."
"I will, too," said Hawk Eye.
"We will not have to bait the traps," went on Raven Wing. "Fearless Bear
tells me to merely rub them with some odor or essence of which the
animals are fond."
"That will be easy," grinned Hawk Eye.
Presently they rounded a bend in the little stream and came to the spot
where they had beached their canoes. To their dismay they found that
they had disappeared.
[Illustration: {Moccasins and headdress.}]