ep which comes to those who have
the courage and enterprise to visit these lands, and in this way live
out a great deal in the open air. The night was never close and sultry.
The air seems full of ozone, and scented with the balm of the great
forest. So it was here as in many similar experiences with these
hearty, healthy lads. So soundly did they sleep that it was after eight
o'clock ere they opened their eyes. As they sprang up, half ashamed of
themselves, the Indians chided them not, but one, in broken English,
comforted them when he said:

"Plenty sleep, strong men, clear eye, firm grip; good medicine."

So they were comforted by this, and ever after when they overslept
themselves they called it "good medicine."

The wolves and wolverine were already skinned, and so as soon as the
boys had had their breakfasts, which had long been waiting them, they
set off to visit the beaver dam. When they reached it the boys could
hardly realise how it was possible that animals not heavier than an
ordinary retriever dog could build such a structure. It was in shape
like a crescent, with the outer curve up stream. It was thus able to
meet and best resist the force of the great currents in times of
freshets and floods.

Many of the logs used in its construction would have been prized as
valuable for timber in saw mills. Then, in addition to the large logs,
there were great numbers that were smaller. The stones, gravel, and mud
used would require many men, with horses and carts, for many days to
transport. Yet here visible to the eye were gathered all of this
material by these animals, that have no tools but their teeth and paws,
and all piled up and arranged in a manner so scientific and accurate
that the finest engineer in the land would not have lost anything in his
reputation to have claimed the work as his most careful planning.

The beaver house was also visited. It was apparently all built on the
land, but it so overhung the lake at one side that the water ever found
access, and there was abundance of room for the beavers to swim out or
in whenever they desired. No attempt was made to break it, nor in any
way to disturb it, neither would there be in the winter months, when the
Indians would make the attack upon them. A more clever and successful
way for their capture is well known, and this would be put in practice.
But we must not anticipate an interesting adventure at this very spot.

The return to Sagast