Jack’s familiarity with woodcraft and the lonely life of his early boyhood when he was left so largely to his own devices and to what enjoyment he could procure unaided from nature had made him a splendid swimmer. He could dive forward and backward. He could sit at the end of the springboard and from a sitting position leap to his feet on the edge of the board and dive into the water with just one motion. Once in the water, he swam like a fish. He could float and on occasion had done so for an hour at a time without changing his position. His action in swimming was grace itself. Now after the boys were tired of sporting in the water, he pressed his hands close against his side and swam from one end of the pool to the other, using simply his feet.
“Gee,” said Tom, who had never seen Jack swim this way before, “where did you learn that stroke, Jack?”
“Oh,” said Jack carelessly, “I got that from the beavers.”
“Beavers?” said Pete, with interest. “Do they swim that way?
“Sure!” said Jack. “Their front paws are very small and they have to rely entirely upon the back ones. These are webbed like those of a duck up to the root of the nails, and it’s one of the prettiest things you ever saw to see a beaver swim. There is scarcely a ripple. The front feet are perfectly motionless, pressed close up against its side, while its head, with its shining fur and its keen, bright eyes that seem to look in every direction at once, moves in a perfectly straight line toward the front door of his house.”
“House?” said Tom, incredulously. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just exactly what I say,” said Jack. “Haven’t you ever heard of beavers’ houses? Why, there isn’t a more intelligent builder among all the animals I know about, and I’ve watched almost every one of them! It’s not only a big house, but a well-made one. The beaver is never satisfied with anything but perfection. It has a lot of rooms in it and these are carpeted with leaves and moss and grass. The upper rooms are sometimes six or eight feet above the surface of the water so as to be perfectly dry. The wise old rascal knows that sometimes there is a freshet that raises the level of the stream and he makes his plan accordingly. There isn’t a thing about carpentering or mason work that he doesn’t know. And he has to make his house strong, too, because he has a good many enemies. The wolves and wolverines are after him all the time and unless he had something that they could not bite through or claw through, it would be all up with Mr. Beaver.”
By this time all the boys had become interested in Jack’s description and had gathered around him.
“You’re a lucky dog, Jack,” said Bob. “You’ve seen a whole lot of things that us city fellows don’t know anything about.”
“Well,” said Jack, “there is no reason why you shouldn’t find out all about the beaver, because I know for a fact that there are some not far from camp. Just the other day I caught sight of a beaver dam about three miles the other side of the logging camp. I was going to speak to you fellows about it at the time, but Don just then started up a woodchuck and we all got so excited that I forgot. What do you say to dressing and going over there now? It won’t be so much of a hike and as the camp is on our way, we will drop in and ask Mr. Durland about it so that he won’t be worried if we don’t get back until just before supper time. There is nothing else on hand for this afternoon and I am mighty sure that he will let us go. Wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he wanted to come along with us!”