narrow and rather deep channel. He stopped then for
the night, and, before dark came, saw several more smokes, but had the
satisfaction to note that they were all to the eastward, seeming to
indicate that he had flanked the bands.

As usual, he took his canoe out of the water and laid it among the
bushes, finding a similar covert for himself near by, where he ate his
food and rested his arms and shoulders, wearied by their long labors
with the paddle. It was the warmest night since the big freeze, but he
was not very sleepy and after finishing his supper he went somewhat
farther than usual into the woods, not looking for anything in
particular, but partly to exercise his legs which had become somewhat
cramped by his long day in the canoe. But he became very much alive when
he heard a crash which he knew to be that of a falling tree. He leaped
instantly to the shelter of a great trunk and his hand sprang to his
gunlock, but no other sound followed, and he wondered. At first, he had
thought it indicated the presence of warriors, but Indians did not cut
down trees and doubtless it was due to some other cause, perhaps an old,
decayed trunk that had been weighted down by snow, falling through
sheer weariness. In any event he was going to see, and, emerging from
his shelter, he moved forward silently.

He came to a thicket, and saw just beyond it a wide pool or backwater
formed by a tributary of the creek. In the water, stood a beaver colony,
the round domes of their houses showing like a happy village. It was
evident, however, that they were doing much delayed work for the winter,
as a half dozen stalwart fellows were busy with the tree, the falling
crash of which Henry had just heard, and which they had cut through with
their sharp teeth.

He crouched in the thicket and, all unsuspected by the industrious
members of the colony, watched them a little while. He did not know just
what building operation they intended, but it must be an after thought.
The beaver was always industrious and full of foresight, and, if they
were adding now to the construction of their town carried out earlier in
the year, it must be due to a prevision that it was going to be a very
cold, long and hard winter.

Henry watched them at work quite a while, and they furnished him both
amusement and interest. It was a sort of forest idyll. Their energy was
marvelous, and they worked always with method. One huge, gray old fellow
seemed to direct their