“Ready!” was answered; and with the blade of his paddle he threw the mud and rocks to the right and left, and the pent-up waters of three days’ detention swept us down the stream a long way on our voyage. The Colonel, dashing through the woods, regained his canoe at a bend in the river.
BEAVER DAM—FOUR FEET HIGH—ONE HUNDRED FEET WIDE.
But gradually the water receded from under our barks, and we were again forced to take to the stream and lift our canoes over the cruel rocks, until we reached a broad expanse of the river below.
This pond was the result of an enormous beaver dam four feet high and one hundred feet wide.
SLUICING A DAM.
“We better set our traps,” said Nichols; “many beaver here; me catch some to-night, a family of nine,” the Indian’s accuracy regarding the points of wood-craft being at times wonderful.
“But we cannot proceed without water,” said the Colonel, observing the stream very dry below.
We therefore set our traps and cut the dam to the width of over ten feet, through which the water rushed with velocity, and floated us quickly to the Third Mansungun Lake. We were detained only by a few fallen trees, which the axe in the brawny hands of John Mansell soon cleared.