"At sunrise," he said, "I will sc.r.a.pe it clean with my knife. I think it will dry in the sun as we paddle and make a good pelt."

Raven Wing collected an armful of dry wood and started a fire. Before long both hungry boys were enjoying a hearty meal of prairie hen and rabbit meat. After a drink at the spring nearby, they spread their blankets beneath a tree and went to sleep.

At sunup Hawk Eye set to work on the bear pelt while Raven Wing re-kindled the fire and prepared their morning meal. When this was finished, he covered the smouldering embers with fresh earth and followed Hawk Eye to the beach. Pushing their canoes into the water, they bent to the paddles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Brave by the campfire.}]

At this point the river was narrow. Again fallen trees blocked the channel. At times the boys found it necessary to push them out of the way. Progress was slow, and the sun was well up in the sky by the time they pa.s.sed the mouth of a small river called The Last Stream With Trees.

"Fearless Bear told me the Minnesota coils like a snake. He spoke the truth," remarked Hawk Eye. "I have already counted eight turns in less distance than the eye can reach."

"The turns do not bother me," answered Raven Wing. "But I have heard that there are rapids further on. They may cause us trouble."

"We will make a portage," said Hawk Eye. "We cannot trust our pelts to the angry waters."

"Then we must unload the canoes and shoulder the packs," said Raven Wing. "That will not be easy."

"It will be hard work," agreed Hawk Eye.

Instead of going ash.o.r.e for their midday meal, the boys ate pemmican while paddling. At sundown they ran the canoes ash.o.r.e and prepared to make camp for the night. After a hearty meal of bear meat which had been well-cooked the day before, they rolled themselves in their blankets and lay down for the night. For some little time they lay awake listening to the night noises. But they were weary with paddling, and in spite of the persistent calls of the whippoorwills, they at length fell into a sound sleep.

Hawk Eye was the first to awaken. Seeing Raven Wing still asleep, he quietly strode down to the river for a bath. As Raven Wing still slept on, Hawk Eye unpacked some pemmican and ate his morning meal. Presently Raven Wing awoke and seeing that Hawk Eye was about ready to launch the canoes, he hurried down to the river to bathe. He would have launched his own craft had not the elder boy wisely counseled him to first make a hearty meal. Before long they were both out on the river.

On coming to the rapids, Hawk Eye grounded his craft on a narrow strip of sand and unloaded. As soon as Raven Wing had placed his packs upon the sand, Hawk Eye said;

"You and I will shoulder my canoe and carry it beyond the rapids."

Waist-high in the tumbling waters they bore it to quiet water and laid it on the sh.o.r.e. When Raven Wing's canoe had been safely transported, they returned for the packs. One by one these were carried through the rapids without mishap. The canoes were then pushed into the water and reloaded. Once more the boys took their seats and paddled down stream.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Fishing in the river.}]

CHAPTER X

THE BEAVER DAM

During the next few days the boys made good progress. They pa.s.sed the Yellow Medicine, Sparrowhawk and Redwood rivers. On the fourth day when but a few miles above the mouth of the Cottonwood, Raven Wing said: "Let us go ash.o.r.e. It is time we ate."

So they beached the canoes on a sandy sh.o.r.e. Hawk Eye took out pemmican and dried bear meat from a pack and sat down beside Raven Wing. When their hunger was satisfied, Hawk Eye said:

"I think there may be beavers upstream," pointing to a rivulet that emptied into the Minnesota a short distance from them. "If so, and there are many, we can come here later on and get pelts. Shall we see?"

"By all means," agreed Raven Wing. "Let us go at once."

Picking up their bows and arrows, they started off. Following the winding course of the stream for a considerable distance they came to a dam which held back the water and formed a fair-sized lake.

At once the boys knew that it had been built by beavers. The Musquash, sometimes called the muskrat, although it ought to be called the muskbeaver, because it is really a beaver and no rat at all, never builds dams nor digs ca.n.a.ls. It has a flat tail like the beaver and not at all resembling the tapering tail of water rat. It builds houses, much like the beaver's, only smaller.

"We will not forget this spot," chuckled Raven Wing. "We will get many pelts on our next visit."

"No one shall learn of its location," added Hawk Eye. "We will get the pelts for ourselves."

"The dam is in fine condition," said Raven Wing, who had climbed up upon it.

Not a beaver was to be seen, however. The wary animals had dived out of sight at hearing the boys approach.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WARY ANIMALS HAD DIVED OUT OF SIGHT AT HEARING THE BOYS APPROACH.]

"Fearless Bear once told me," remarked Raven Wing, "that hunters rarely see beavers building a dam. He says that they build at night and that it is no easy matter for a hunter to watch them."

"The musquash is easier to hunt," said Hawk Eye. "But he is less than half the size of the beaver; besides, his pelt is not so valuable."

"I've seen a beaver caught that weighed almost eighty pounds," said Raven Wing. "It had beautiful fur and a tail as big as a musquash."

"No fur on its tail," laughed Hawk Eye. "It's covered with rough scales.

Beaver uses it to scull its way through the water."

"I wish the dam were larger," said Raven Wing. "Big dam, many beavers."

"There are plenty of beavers here," said Hawk Eye. "Enough for you and me unless some hunter comes across it before another snow."

As Raven Wing stepped off the dam and walked upstream along the bank, he said; "Fearless Bear told the hunters one night when I was in his lodge, that he had seen a beaver dam near a great body of water that measured two hundred and sixty feet long and six feet high."

"Might not have been so many beavers at work on it," said Hawk Eye.

"Probably it took a long time to build it."

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Beaver.}]

As the boys strolled along they noted the number of stumps which were all that remained of the trees which the beavers had cut down and divided into short lengths, such as could be carried by mouth when building the dam.

"Sharp teeth to cut these trees," remarked Raven Wing. "Some of these stumps are two feet thick."

"Did Fearless Bear tell you how the beaver works?" asked Hawk Eye.

"He supports himself by his tail when he rears on his hind legs to cut down a tree," answered Raven Wing. "With his teeth he cuts the wood as neatly as a hunter cuts it with his hatchet. No nibbling like a mouse,"

went on Raven Wing, "he makes a neat job, and can even make the tree fall in the direction he wishes."

"What else did Fearless Bear say?" asked Hawk Eye.

"When the beaver has cut the tree into short lengths he drags the cuttings to the place where he is to build the dam. He brings the branches, too, in his mouth and rolls stones along the sh.o.r.e to pile on them and hold them in place. At first the dam is rough and loose, but the beavers keep constantly at work, smoothing and pressing it down and stopping all the gaps with clay and pebbles from the bank. As time goes on it becomes overgrown with gra.s.s and bushes and looks as if it were a natural bank, just like this one," said Raven Wing.

"After a freshet, beaver must make repairs," remarked Hawk Eye.

[Ill.u.s.tration: {Brave with headdress.}]

"Fearless Bear told me he once made holes in a dam and during the night watched the beavers patch up the damaged places," laughed Raven Wing.