olk. He never kills for the sake of
killing, but lives peaceably, so far as he can, with all creatures. And
he stops fishing when he has caught his dinner. He is also most cleanly
in his habits, with no suggestion whatever of the evil odors that cling
to the mink and defile the whole neighborhood of a skunk. One cannot
help wondering whether just going fishing has not wrought all this
wonder in Keeonekh's disposition. If so, 't is a pity that all his tribe
do not turn fishermen.

His one enemy among the wood folk, so far as I have observed, is the
beaver. As the latter is also a peaceable animal, it is difficult to
account for the hostility. I have heard or read somewhere that Keeonekh
is fond of young beaver and hunts them occasionally to vary his diet
of fish; but I have never found any evidence in the wilderness to show
this. Instead, I think it is simply a matter of the beaver's dam and
pond that causes the trouble.

When the dam is built the beavers often dig a channel around either end
to carry off the surplus water, and so prevent their handiwork being
washed away in a freshet. Then the beavers guard their preserve
jealously, driving away the wood folk that dare to cross their dam or
enter their ponds, especially the musquash, who is apt to burrow and
cause them no end of trouble. But Keeonekh, secure in his strength,
holds straight through the pond, minding his own business and even
taking a fish or two in the deep places near the dam. He delights also
in running water, especially in winter when lakes and streams are mostly
frozen, and in his journeyings he makes use of the open channels that
guard the beavers' work. But the moment the beavers hear a splashing
there, or note a disturbance in the pond where Keeonekh is chasing fish,
down they come full of wrath. And there is generally a desperate fight
before the affair is settled.

Once, on a little pond, I saw a fierce battle going on out in the
middle, and paddled hastily to find out about it. Two beavers and a
big otter were locked in a death struggle, diving, plunging, throwing
themselves out of water, and snapping at each other's throats.

As my canoe halted the otter gripped one of his antagonists and went
under with him. There was a terrible commotion below the surface for a
few moments. When it ended the beaver rolled up dead, and Keeonekh shot
up under the second beaver to repeat the attack. They gripped on the
instant, but the second beaver, an eno