CHAPTER IX
STRANGERS AT THE LAKE
After his return to the shimmering Mountain Lake, Shaggycoat allowedhimself a few days leisure in which to enjoy the company of Brighteyesand get acquainted with the frolicsome young beavers. They were very shyof him at first, but finally came to know that he was the head of thelodge.
One crisp autumn morning when he went for a swim he discovered that thefrost had painted all the trees on the hilltops, and seared the grassesand fronds along the bank of the lake. Then he knew that this idlingmust cease and hard work upon the dam begin.
The same day just at twilight he went far up-stream to see where hecould get material for the dam. It had been badly washed by the springfreshet, and his lake had shrunk to about half its original size. He nowplanned to rebuild the whole structure, using the two old pines asfoundation.
He had slipped out upon the bank, and was busily girdling a poplar, whena strange rhythmic splashing in the stream above fell upon his ear. Hisfirst impression was that he had heard something like it before, andsomehow the sound filled him with a strange dread. He scrambled quicklyto the water and slipped under a friendly screen of pickerel weed wherehe lay watching and waiting. He could hear the steady splashing plainernow. Then in an instant he remembered the terrifying scene of thedrinking buck and the roaring "thunderstick," and his own precipitateflight. This splashing was like that the great duck had made when itcame round the bend in the stream. He had hoped to leave that dreadthing far behind, and here it was coming to his own home to seek himout, and perhaps destroy them all as it had the buck.
Then it came in sight and he saw that it was larger than many ducks withits two wings rising and falling making a bright splash in the water ateach stroke.
Shaggycoat waited to see no more but fled swiftly and noiselessly towardhis dilapidated lodge, but he occasionally stopped in a well screenedspot to watch and listen for the coming of this monster.
It was not many minutes before he saw it enter the lake, and then heknew that his retreat had been discovered by the most subtle anddestructive of all his foes, man.
Shaggycoat fled to the lodge and told Brighteyes all that he had seenand heard, and they counseled together as to what course to pursue.
Brighteyes was for fleeing at once, but Shaggycoat could not tearhimself away from this spot that he had selected so carefully and thedam that had cost him so much labor, so he counseled waiting anotherday. They could be very wary and never show themselves except by nightand if they kept to the burrows that he had dug along the bank, he feltquite sure that the stranger could not get at them, so he went back towatch these invaders of his stronghold, while Brighteyes hid the youngbeavers in the largest of the burrows near the dam. Although the waterwas low in the lake, it was deep here, and she felt quite secure.
The two canoeists never imagined as they paddled down the lake, that awary beaver was keeping just so far ahead of them, swimming from stumpto overhanging bank and watching their every movement. When they hauledtheir canoe ashore and made a camp-fire, they little suspected thatthey were camping within fifty feet of the underground burrow of thebeaver.
While they were cooking supper a flock of ducks came sailing over andthree of their number alighted in the lake to feed upon water grass.Then Shaggycoat saw one of the strangers pick up the black stick thathad spoken so loudly to the buck on the river bank a few days before. Hefelt a strong impulse to flee but there was a strange fascination aboutit all and he wanted to see what happened.
While he was still wondering which was the better course to pursue, the"thunderstick" spoke, and its echo rolled along the lake and was thrownfrom hillside to hillside, again and again. It seemed to Shaggycoat thathis quiet lake had suddenly become the abode of thunder and lightning.He waited to see no more but fled to the burrow, where he foundBrighteyes and the young beavers trembling with fright.
The same evening, an hour or two later, Shaggycoat heard an ominouswhack, whack, whack upon his dam. It reminded him so forcibly of thepounding that they heard in the old Beaver City, before he and hisgrandfather had fled that he was filled with dismay. Was his own smalldam and the lodge that he had reared with so much labor to be destroyedjust as the old Beaver City had been, and he and Brighteyes slain?
The following day the strangers made very free with the beaver's pond,or at least Shaggycoat thought so, as he watched them covertly from abunch of alders that grew partly in the water.
What right had they to go paddling about in their great red duck just asthough they owned his lake?
They stopped at the island and examined the dilapidated lodgecritically, but they took still greater liberties for they finally duga hole in the side of the house and looked inside.
They were much interested in the beaver's dwelling and seemed to betrying to find out all about him.
It angered Shaggycoat extremely to see all these liberties taken withhis possessions but what could he do against the strangers with a"thunderstick" that could kill a tall buck; so he discreetly kept out ofsight, knowing that he could repair the house in a few minutes if theywould only go away and leave the lake to its rightful owners.
At night the strangers again killed a duck with the "thunderstick" anddrawing their canoe upon the bank made a fire.
Shaggycoat determined to go nearer to them that night and see if hecould discover what kind of creatures they were. He had just left theburrow upon his hazardous expedition when he heard a pounding thatreminded him of the pounding on the ice when the trappers had come andcut holes about their lodges. It could not be that they were cuttingholes in the ice now, for there was no ice, but the steady poundingfilled him with dread.
Again Brighteyes counseled that they flee at once leaving all to thestrangers, but Shaggycoat would not go.
When the pounding ceased and the usual quiet reigned, for there wasalways the sighing of the wind, or perhaps the hooting of an owl, hecrept cautiously forth to see what these meddlesome creatures had beendoing.
The first thing he discovered alarmed him extremely. The water wasfalling and there was a great hole in his dam. Why not flee at once? Butwhere? Had not he and his grandfather fled for days and weeks, and thestrangers had found him out at last. They would discover him again if hefled.
But the rapidity with which the water was falling alarmed him more thaneven the thought of these dread strangers. If it should fall below themouth of their burrow, their enemies could get them. The break in thedam must be repaired at once, so he hurried back to the burrow to tellhis mate and they set to work.
First they sought to stem the flow of water temporarily, until theycould do it thoroughly, so they swam up the lake fifteen or twenty rodsand going ashore gathered each an armful of weeds and cat-tails. Thesethey carried to the dam, holding them in their arms and swimming in amore upright position than usual.
They threw the weeds into the break, but the swift current swept themaway in a very few seconds. This would not do; they must try somethingmore substantial, so Shaggycoat went ashore and cut strong stakes andstuck them in the mud at either end of the break. Then they cut a dozenalder bushes and laid them across, allowing the stakes to hold them ateither end. The current could not sweep this away, but the water stillflowed freely through the bushes and something finer was now needed.
They again swam up the lake and returned with their arms full of weeds.These they wove in and out among the alder bushes, but the work was notcomplete until they had brought mud and plastered it solid. When thishad been done, the flow of water was effectually stopped.
Then Shaggycoat sat upon his broad tail and viewed their workcritically. He had become so absorbed in repairing the dam that he hadfor the moment forgotten the strangers who had caused him this trouble.
He was wondering whether they had better bring more mud when a strongpuff of wind filled his nostrils with a strange repugnant scent. It senta shiver of dread through him, and caused the long hairs to rise uponhis neck. Where had he smelled that before? Some
where he had caught sucha scent, and the remembrance of it was not pleasant.
Then it came back to him. It was at the old Beaver City when thetrappers were chopping holes in the ice and destroying its inhabitants.The trap also into which he had stepped the summer before had beenstrong with the same odor. Then the beaver's eyes grew big with wonderand fright, for there in the tree above him, not fifty feet away, he sawone of the dreaded strangers watching him. With a resounding slap histail smote the water and a second later, only a ripple showed where thebeaver had disappeared.
The following morning the meddlesome strangers loaded their belongingsinto the great duck, carried it around the end of the dam and paddledaway down stream.
It was with great joy that Shaggycoat observed from his place of hiding,these movements on their part. But he thought they might be trying tofool him, so he followed at a distance.
When he had seen them round a bend in the stream nearly a mile from thedam, he concluded that their leaving was no sham, and went back to hislake, well pleased with the turn of affairs.
He and Brighteyes and another pair of beavers, who had returned with himfrom his summer ramble, began work on the dam and by the time the firstfreeze came, it was strong and symmetrical and higher and longer than ithad been before. This made the water set back and several families ofmusquash, who had built along the shore of the lake, were drowned out,and obliged to gather new supplies of winter edibles.
This angered the muskrat families who revenged themselves on thebeavers in a way they did not like.
In the morning, when the builders left off working on the dam, it wouldbe in good shape, but by twilight it would be leaking badly.
Examination showed many holes tunneled through the mud, which made thedam leak. For several days Shaggycoat could not discover who wasmolesting his dam, but he finally set a watchman, and the destroyerswere caught in the act. After that whenever a muskrat was seen anywherenear the dam, he was rudely hurried to another part of the lake. Whenthe dam had been repaired, the lodge was attended to, but this winterthere were two lodges on the island instead of one.
The forest was now entirely denuded and the naked arms of maple andpoplar swayed fitfully in the rude gusts of the boisterous early winterwind. In its mad careering down the aisles of the pathetic forest, itcaught up the dead leaves and whirled them about gleefully.
Summer had had its day, and November must now have its inning.
Down from the distant foothills which were now sere and brown, came ashuffling, shambling black figure, closely followed by two littleshuffling, shambling figures. It was evident that more strangers werecoming to the beavers' lake.
They sniffed at the bushes, and poked under the dead leavesinquisitively as they came. Whenever they discovered nuts, they ate themgreedily. These figures were not agile, like most of the denizens of thewoods, but rather clumsy. Whenever they planted their large paws (whichwere armed with massive claws) upon a twig, it crunched under the weightwith a muffled sound.
It did not snap as it would have done under the hoof of a deer or crackas under the hoof of a moose, but it simply crunched.
The figures did not go stealthily like the cat family or furtively likea fox, but there was a certain cunning in their manner, which was moreshrewd than suspicious.
Whenever they crowded through heavy underbrush, they occasionally leftlong black hairs, which hunters would at once identify, as coming fromthe warm winter coat of Bruin.
An old mother bear and two cubs were making their way down to thebeavers' lake, which they had seen from the foothills.
The old bear was leading the way as was her wont, and the cubs werefollowing like dutiful children.
There were no sheepfolds in this wilderness so far from the haunts ofman, and, as for pig, the old bear had not tasted it since early in thespring. Some instinct or intuition told her that the beautiful forestlake was the work of a beaver, and if their houses had not been frozenup too hard, they might be broken into and made to pay toll to thefamily of Bruin.
So the errand of these strangers boded no good for Shaggycoat and hishousehold.
The old bear and the two cubs came out upon the lake just at the dam,and as there was a fresh wind blowing from up-stream, beaver scent wasstrong.
Then the countenance of the old bear, which was usually droll and goodnatured, became cunning and eager with the thought of beaver meat.
The conical beaver houses were out on an island some distance from theshore so the old bear tried the ice and found that it held. Then shewent slipping and sliding over the smooth surface to the island, closelyfollowed by the cubs.
She walked about the larger of the two lodges several times beforedeciding what to do, then reared upon her hind legs and peeped in atthe vent. There, almost within reach of her paw, were four or five sleekbeavers.
The sight of meat so near at hand caused the old bear to forget hercunning and she thrust one of her powerful forearms in at the ventreaching wildly for the beavers. Then what a scrambling there was forboth the front and back door of the lodge, as the astonished andterrified beavers made their escape.
Seeing that this tactic was useless, Bruin withdrew her paw, and againpeeped in, but the beaver house was quite empty.
Even with her strong arms, she could not tear off the top of the lodgewhich was frozen hard as stone.
After spending two days in futile efforts to get at the beavers, thethree bears shambled off through the wood in search of winter quarters.
They were not long in finding a fallen tree with a heavy top which madea good covering, so they crawled in and went to sleep. Soon the heavysnow-storms covered them up snug and warm, and the only evidence thatthe tree-top was the home of three bears, was a small hole melted in thesnow where the breath of the three sleepers thawed it. This was theirchimney through which their warm breath would ascend until spring.
When the strong forearm of the old bear, with its powerful claws, hadraked the beavers' lodge in search of supper, Shaggycoat and his familyhad not fully understood the intruder's motive, although they knew quitewell that it was sinister.
The following summer, however, during his annual ramble, Shaggycoatlearned all about the bears' fondness for the beaver, and this bit ofknowledge increased his fear of the bear family.
He had frequently seen Bruin watching the fish in some deep pool andtrying whenever they came to the surface to sweep one out on the landwith his paw, but one day he discovered a bear watching something elsein the water.
Shaggycoat could not see anything to watch, but he did notice anoccasional bubble coming to the surface. This was what interested thebear.
Presently Bruin dove head first into the water and after remaining downfor several seconds came blowing and puffing to the surface, bringing ahalf drowned beaver in his jaws. If anything more was needed to add tothe unfortunate beaver's trouble, it was that one of his forepaws wasfirmly held in a trap. The bear had evidently discovered the beaver in atrap, and had driven him to the bottom. He laid his unfortunate victimdown and with one blow of his strong paw broke the beaver's neck.
This was enough for Shaggycoat and he fled like a hunted thing, andafter that day he always kept as much water between himself and the bearfamily as possible.
Shaggycoat: The Biography of a Beaver Page 11
