Look, gentlemen!"

He pointed to a curved bank of brushwood, mostly alder branches, piled
together in curious topsyturvy fashion, which formed a dam across the
stream. It bristled with sticks, poking out and up in every direction;
for the bushy ends of the boughs had been heavily plastered with mud and
stones, to keep them down.

"That a beaver-dam!" gasped Neal in amazement. "Why, I always had an
idea that beavers were half human in intelligence, and wove their
branches in and out in a sort of neat basketwork when making dams.
That's a funny rough-and-tumble looking old pile."

"It's a good water-tight dam, for all that," answered Cyrus. "And don't
you begin to underrate Mr. Beaver's intelligence until you see more of
his works. I've torn the bottom out of a dam like this on a cold, rainy
night,--beavers like rainy nights for work,--and then hidden myself in
some bushes to watch the result. It was a trial of strength and
patience, I assure you, to remain there for six mortal hours,--though I
had rubber overalls on,--with wet twigs and leaves slapping my face. But
the sight I saw was more wonderful than anything I could have imagined.
There was a cloudy, watery moon; and shortly after it rose, five beavers
appeared upon the dam, scrambling up and down, and examining the great
hole through which the water was fast leaking out of their pond. Then,
following a big fellow, who was evidently the boss beaver, they swam to
the bank. He stationed himself near a tree about twenty inches in
circumference, and his four boys at once started to fell it. I tell you
they worked like hustlers, each one sawing on it in turn with his sharp
teeth, and sometimes two of them together on different parts of the
trunk.