About the first of November the weather turned cold. Ice began to form along the shore of the lake, and small lakes and [[197]]beaver ponds were entirely covered with their ice.
“My sons, to-day we must go and catch some more beavers,” said Ganawa one morning. “Winter has begun and we shall soon need warm mittens and caps, or we cannot leave the camp in cold weather.”
When they arrived at the pond, Ganawa asked the boys to walk with him as quietly as possible around the edge of the pond. “We must learn where their washes are,” he told the lads, “before we make any noise at their houses.”
Neither of the lads knew what beaver “washes” are, but they soon learned that this is the name used by Indians and white trappers for the burrows which the beavers excavate in the banks of their ponds. The pond was a large one and the hunters found half a dozen washes.
“Now, my sons,” said Ganawa after they had explored the whole pond, “each of you pick up a good stick and then we shall go to the two beaver houses.” [[198]]
“Make a big noise,” he told the lads at the first house. “Strike the roofs with your sticks and make a big yell, then the beavers will think we are going to break into their house.”
Ganawa had scarcely finished his directions when down came three clubs on the pole-and-mud roof of the beaver house, and the boys uttered such piercing yells that Ganawa laughed aloud and said, “My sons, you can yell like Sioux warriors. You almost scared me.”
The beating and the yells certainly scared the beavers. Eight or ten of them, big ones and little ones, dived out of the house and swam for the washes. “There they go! There they go!” cried Ray, and he ran after them on the clear ice.
The same process was repeated at the second beaver house, and Ray became so excited at the beaver hunt that he had a narrow escape from breaking through the thin ice near the house.
The lad wondered how they were going to [[199]]get the beavers out of the washes. “We have no traps,” he thought, “and no hooks or snares.”