hits the water real hard with a board."

In every direction they scanned the clearing. They saw no living things
but the trees. "It's queer," commented Charley. "Let's look at that
nearest tree that's down. Maybe we can learn something from it."

They walked over to the tree, then studied it in amazement. "I never saw
anything like that before," cried Lew. "I don't believe that was ever cut
with an axe. It looks as though it had been gnawed off."

"It has," cried Charley with sudden excitement. "I understand the whole
thing now. We've found a colony of beavers. I never saw a live beaver, but
I've read about them and seen pictures of their huts and their work, and
that looks exactly like the pictures. And those noises like rifle-shots
were their alarm signals. They slap the water with their tails when they
are frightened and dive under water. I suppose they're all in their lodges
now, and we'll never get a peep at them. Gee whiz! Just think of finding
beavers, Lew, real beavers. I didn't know there were any in Pennsylvania."

"It seems to me that I read something about the game commission stocking
the state with them a few years ago. I think they put a number of them in
the state forests. Doubtless they have multiplied in numbers and started
new colonies."

"That explains it," said Charley. "Gee! I'm glad we found these fellows.
And I'm just as glad that they aren't timber thieves. You know, Lew, it
made me feel kind of queer to think of facing real timber thieves. I
didn't like the idea a bit. But I kept thinking about Mr. Morton and what
he said about his being blamed if I fell down, and I made up my mind I'd
do it, no matter what happened."

They now turned their attention to the felled tree once more, studying the
innumerable teeth marks, like so many tiny chisel cuts, on stump and butt.
Then they noticed the great chips lying about the stump, some of them half
as big as dinner plates.

"It gets me to understand how they can bite out such huge chunks," said
Lew, "when their teeth are evidently so small. Why, you'd think an animal
would have to have a mouth as big as a hippopotamus to take bites like
these."

Charley laughed. "Looks that way, doesn't it?" he said. "But as I remember
it, what I read said that the beaver gnaws out parallel rings around the
trunk and wrenches out the wood between. It's like sawing two cuts in a
board and chiseling out the board between them."

"I see," said Lew. "But I should