“Plenty sleep, strong men, clear eye, firm grip; good medicine.”
So they were comforted by this, and ever after when they overslept themselves they called it “good medicine.”
The wolves and wolverine were already skinned, and so as soon as the boys had had their breakfasts, which had long been waiting them, they set off to visit the beaver dam. When they reached it the boys could hardly realise how it was possible that animals not heavier than an ordinary retriever dog could build such a structure. It was in shape like a crescent, with the outer curve up stream. It was thus able to meet and best resist the force of the great currents in times of freshets and floods.
Many of the logs used in its construction would have been prized as valuable for timber in saw mills. Then, in addition to the large logs, there were great numbers that were smaller. The stones, gravel, and mud used would require many men, with horses and carts, for many days to transport. Yet here visible to the eye were gathered all of this material by these animals, that have no tools but their teeth and paws, and all piled up and arranged in a manner so scientific and accurate that the finest engineer in the land would not have lost anything in his reputation to have claimed the work as his most careful planning.
The beaver house was also visited. It was apparently all built on the land, but it so overhung the lake at one side that the water ever found access, and there was abundance of room for the beavers to swim out or in whenever they desired. No attempt was made to break it, nor in any way to disturb it, neither would there be in the winter months, when the Indians would make the attack upon them. A more clever and successful way for their capture is well known, and this would be put in practice. But we must not anticipate an interesting adventure at this very spot.
The return to Sagasta-weekee was made in a few days. With the exception of an upset of a canoe in one of the rapids, where they were trying to work up stream instead of making a portage, nothing of a very startling nature occurred. Alec was the boy who was in this canoe, and he was quite carried under by the rapid current, and only reappeared above the surface a couple of hundred feet lower down. Fortunately there were some canoes near at hand, and he was quickly rescued. But the accident gave them all a great fright. They lost everything in the canoe that would not float. They most regretted the loss of three reliable guns. After this they were much more cautious, and the boys were taught the admonitory lesson that these sports and adventures were not to be enjoyed without many risks, and that there was at all times as great (a) demand for caution and watchfulness as there was on certain occasions for daring and courage.
