"Ye might wait here till midnight, and not have any better," said Joe.
"That fellow's tail was like a fire-alarm to them. They ain't to home
now, you bet! They've dusted out of their house as if it was on fire;
and they've either dived to the bottom, or hidden themselves in holes
along the bank. Guess we'd better be moving on. It's a'most time to
think about making camp."

"The beavers have been working here!" exclaimed the guide a few minutes
later, as he strode ahead. "These white birches were felled by 'em; and
a dandy job they did too."

He pointed to two slim birches which lay prone with their tops in the
water, and to a third, the trunk of which was partly sawn through in
more than one place. The ground was strewn with little clippings of
timber, bearing the saw-marks of the beavers' teeth. The boys gathered
them up as curiosities.

"Oh, the skilful little animals can beat this work by long odds!"
exclaimed Doc. "These trunks only measure from eight to twelve inches in
circumference. I've seen a tree fully two feet round which was felled by
them. Say, Joe! don't you think we'd better camp to-night somewhere on
the _brûlée?_"

"Just what I'm planning, Doc," answered Joe. "We must be pretty near it
now."

A few minutes afterwards the party filed out of the dense woods, passed
through a grove of young spruces, forded a brook which emptied itself
into the stream they were following, and came upon a scene blasted,