Part 15 (1/2)
The experienced travellers in these lands, even under such conditions and worse, do not lose heart Quickly they went to work Strong axes soon felled s Others, with snowshoes as shovels, soon cleared away the snow drift from the fireplace A skillful fires in ablaze, and now the wind only fanned the flahtness
As the downfall of snow continues very heavy soh poles are cut down and one end of them so fastened in the snow that they are firmly held They are so slanted toward the fire, with the wind in the rear, that when roofed over with the big deerskin and a couple dropped each side it is astonishi+ng how comfortably sheltered a few persons thus can be The active Indians shook the dry snow off fro theht roof and gazing into the great fire just before theave them both warmth and cheer A hot breakfast was enjoyed as soon as the Indians could cook it
Some of the Indians improvised a siale around the fire perfectly unconcerned To thes of the robins in springti to the delay of a half day on account of this disagreeable storm, the party did not reach the vicinity of the beaver house until toward evening So it was resolved to find a good place for the camp, as the Indian hunters ned this house said they would not take the beavers until the third day in the afternoon, and then they would take all they decided to in a short time This was, of course, all a ed to have patience, and witness the contest between ani, and enuity
The spot selected for the camp was not far from the beaver house, which stood in its symmetrical proportions well covered with snow, and looked like a great haystack in some farmer's yard at home
The boys had observed on the sled of these Indians ned the beaver house a little wicker-like basket well-lined with rabbit skin One day, when peering into it, two fierce little dogs snapped at them most viciously, and see at the camp fire they asked Mr Ross about them, and were surprised to hear that they are what are called beaver dogs He said they were valuable, for with their help the Indians would get the beaver in a very novel which they would see commenced to-morrow Mr Ross cautioned the boys not to put their naked hands near the vicious brutes, as they were very fierce, and especially disliked white people
The camp was a well-sheltered, comfortable one for such a place, and as the storh very cold, was a fairly enjoyable one The routine at this camp was similar to the first The only excitement the boys had, hen one of the Indians ca the beaver house and da on the dam the heavers had made, and then round and round the beaver house
”Beaver plenty safe there,” he added, in his broken English ”Wall four feet thick Frost make all like stone Only one door, and that under the thick ice and water Wolverine no catch beaver in that house”
Then he added: ”Beaver there for Injun to take White boys see how him do it quick, two days more Plenty work first, then plenty beaver”
This picturesque talk to the boys was very interesting, and so they were all eager to see, as Sain”
As nothing could be done the next day before daylight, there was no particular hurry in getting up After giving orders to the s there re was kept in the best of order, and dinner ready at a certain hour, Mr Ross and the boys, like the rest, strapped on their snowshoes and away they tras with them These they carefully carried and kept covered up when not at work The boys were first taken to the top of a hill, from which the whole pond, dam, and beaver house could be distinctly seen Then Mr Ross explained that, while the beaver generally dwelt in their house during the winter, they had in addition what the Indians called kitchens These were cunningly hid along the shore at the edge of the ice All were now out of sight and under the snow They were ingeniouslythe away the ice, as it formed on the inside, could thus keep the places for the beaver in case they should be attacked in their houses and driven out
Inexperienced hunters often try to get the beaver by chopping, digging, or even blasting with gunpowder a hole into the beaver house If the pond is well supplied with kitchens, or breathing places, the beavers need only laugh at such hunters, for just as soon as they becoe into the water, which is always open in the waro under the thick ice to the kitchens, which are so cunningly hid away
There they quietly remain and breathe the air, which is necessary as it coh the rushes and reeds, from which they keep the ice When the noise is over and the beavers think that their eneo back to the house If the invaders have much destroyed the house, the beavers desert it entirely and live in these kitchens until the spring freshets coe colony of beavers with a big house will have twenty kitchens If one is discovered they swih an amphibious animal and able to remain quite a tio where he can get it, or he will die The length of time that a beaver can live under the ice without air is athe experienced hunters the that, when beavers find all of their retreats cut off, as a last resort they coainst the ice, and then, when it is good, they breathe it in again But the trouble is that they lose some air bubbles each time, and so they soon become exhausted and die
In themade to the boys the Indians had comreen birch trees which were eight or ten inches in diaht feet each On these they vigorously set to ith their axes, and so cut or trimmed these down, except a foot or fifteen inches at one end, so that when finished they were like gigantic pounders
With these made and thrown over their shoulders they took their way to the pond, only carrying in addition the two little dogs When the pond was reached the little dogs were set down in the snow near the edge At first they only ain taken up by theirof the kind
”Umisk! Umisk!” they excitedly cried, and soon this Indian word for ”beaver” began to have its effect upon the dogs pricking up their ears, they began running about, until at length, with a couple of yelps of triumph, they were off They hurried away as fast as their little legs could carry theht snow to a spot near the shore
Here they beganthe snow fly as rapidly as was possible with their fore paws One of the Indians assisted theh, there at the very edge of the ice they found a ed, with a little space in the centre where it was open water This was a beaver's kitchen that had been so cunningly discovered by the keen scent of the little dogs
As soon as it had been discovered the Indians quickly picked up the little dogs and stowed the shi+vering creatures in wars on their backs Now the boys were able to see the use to which these great big pounders, hewn out of the young birch trees, were put With both of therass and rushes, and left the place so exposed that in a few hours it would be so solidly frozen over that not a particle of air could enter
Leaving this kitchen now co the shore for a little distance up farther fros out of the war ani out, ”Umisk!
Umisk!” The result was as before Like as an electric shock these words acted upon these queer little dogs, and at once they seeorously set to work, and in a very few minutes had discovered another kitchen This one was destroyed in the same manner as was the first
Thus on and on they cautiously prospected and worked At one place where they had gone but a short distance fros obstinately turned back and rushed to a spot where even the htest suspicion of anything being, until the keen instinct of the dog discovered it Following up the little fellow to the spot where he was now barkingin the snow before they found the ly hid away kitchen on the whole pond
So large was it, and so well arranged as the breathing place of a large number of beavers, that the hunters declared that if they had let that single one escape them they would have completely failed when they made their attack upon the beaver house This sharpness on the part of the little dog made the men the more careful, and so it was noon ere the end of the pond was reached and about half of this as completed
Dinner was ready for all when they returned to the cary and the cold had helped to sharpen their appetites
”How is it?” said Sa out the fattest part of theelse?”
”That is,” said Mr Ross, ”because you are in first-class health And Nature, true to her instincts, is giving you and the rest of us the craving for just the kind of food that is now best adapted to our requirements Fat food has more heat in it than any other kind, and so that which you here crave is that which is really the ht, out in the open air in this sharp cold weather, we require much more heat to keep us up to our normal teasta-weekee”