By this time the others had done whatever work was necessary with the branches, and all devoted themselves to the mortar, working with incredible rapidity and never stopping for a moment. How long it would have taken to complete the repairs the boys never knew, for at that moment Tom, who in his eagerness had bent forward, lost his balance and fell with a crash to the ground. The wary creatures heard him instantly and like a flash turned and made for their homes. A moment after the surface of the water was as smooth as a mill-pond and none would have dreamed of the life and activity of a moment before.
“Well,” said Bob Hart, angrily, “of all the bone-heads!”
“Bone-head yourself!” said Tom. “How could I help it? Do you suppose I fell on purpose?”
“Come, come, boys!” said Mr. Durland. “We all know it was an accident and nobody is more sorry than Tom himself. But I guess there is no use waiting here any longer. You can be perfectly sure that there will be nothing doing now for the rest of the day.”
He rose to his feet and the others followed toward the camp, so full of wonder and excitement at what they had seen that it completely overshadowed their chagrin at Tom’s carelessness, and he got off more easily than he had expected.
All that evening when supper was over and cleared away the boys were so full of the events of the afternoon that they could hardly think of anything else.
“My,” said Bob, “did you see that beaver’s teeth? I’d hate to have him bite me!”
“Well,” said Jack, “they wouldn’t bite you unless they were cornered and had to. Then it would be a pretty healthy thing to keep out of reach of their teeth. They are as sharp as a chisel. As a matter of fact, the Indians use them to carve out their ornaments of bone. The beavers use them so much that Nature has to keep hustling to supply new material. There is an outside row that projects toward the front and an inner row that furnishes the material to keep the outer ones strong and keen. Sometimes a beaver loses a tooth on either the upper or lower jaw and then the one directly opposite this keeps growing so fast that after a while it prevents the beaver from closing his mouth. He can’t eat and soon starves to death.”
“I wonder,” said Dick, “if that was a whole family that we saw this afternoon.”
“I think very likely,” returned Jack, “because if there had been more they certainly would have been on the job. The beaver is a sociable animal and never cares to live alone. Usually there are four or five found together, but sometimes as many as thirty or forty will gather in a little village of their own. Each family has a separate house and each member of the family has his own individual room, which he keeps jealously for himself, and there is always a scrap if any one else tries to bunk in there with him.”