n. If they only had time now they might
cut a passage through; but no--this wretched enemy, whatever it is, has
ditched the ice across.

They sniff and listen. A terrible sound comes from above--a low,
exultant, devilish whining. The man has left his dog on guard above the
dam. At that the little beavers--always trembling, timid fellows--tumble
over each other in a panic of fear to escape by way of the flowing water
below the dam. But there a new terror assails them. A shadow is above
the ice, a wraith of destruction--the figure of a man standing at the
dam with his axe and club--waiting.

Where to go now? They can't find their bank shelters, for the man has
staked them up. The little fellows lose their presence of mind and their
heads and their courage, and with a blind scramble dash up the remaining
open runway. It is a _cul-de-sac_. But what does that matter? They run
almost to the end. They can crouch there till the awful shadow goes
away. Exactly. That is what the man has been counting on. He will come
to them afterward.

The old beavers make no such mistake. They have tried the hollow-log
trick with an enemy pursuing them to the blind end, and have escaped
only because some other beaver was eaten.

The old ones know that water alone is safety.

That is the first and last law of beaver life. They, too, see that
phantom destroyer above the ice; but a dash past is the last chance. How
many of the beaver escape past the cut in the dam to the water below,
depends on the dexterity of the trapper's aim. But certainly, for the
most, one blow is the end; and that one blow is less cruel to them than
the ravages of the wolf or wolverine in spring, for these begin to eat
before they kill.

A signal, and the dog ceases to keep guard above the dam. Where is the
runway in which the others are hiding? The dog scampers round aimlessly,
but begins to sniff and run in a line and scratch and whimper. The man
sees that the dog is on the trail of sagging snow, and the sag betrays
ice settling down where a channel has run dry. The trapper cuts a hole
across the river end of the runway and drives down stakes. The young
beavers are now prisoners.

The human mind can't help wondering why the foolish youngsters didn't
crouch below the ice above the dam and lie there in safe hiding till the
monster went away. This may be done by the hermit beavers--fellows who
have lost their mates and go through life inconsolable; or sick
creatures