Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-11-18

completely beaten And creature
without fang had worsted him. He
felt the abasement of it. Drenched
and Sinking, he went to the windfall,
lay down in the sun, and waited for
Gray Wolf
! Days followed in which Kazan's de.
sire to destroy his beaver enemies be-
came the consuming passion of his life.
Each day the dam became more for
midable. Cement work in the water
was carried on by the beavers swiftly
and safely. The water in the pond rose
higher each twenty-four hours, and the
pond grew steadily wider. The water
had now been turned into the depres-
sion that encircled the windfall,. and in
another week or two, if the beavers
continued their work. Kazan's and
Gray VOLTS home would be nothing
more than a small island in the center
of a wide area of submerged swamp
Kazan hunted only for food now, and
not for pleasure. Ceaselessly he watch
ed his opportunity to leap upon incau-
tious members of Broken Tooth's tribe.
The third day after the struggle under
the water he killed big beaver that
approached too close to the willow
thicket. The fifth day two of the
young beavers wandered into the food
ed depression back of the windfall and
Kazan caught them In shallow water
and tore them into pieces. After these
successful assaults the beavers began
to work mostly at night. This was to
Kazans advantage, for he was night
hunter. On each Of two consecutive
:o-I,4 I'll hoo n q
the young, he had killed seven when
the otter came.
Never had Broken Tooth been p1ac-
ed between two deadlier or more fero-
! cious enemies than the two that now
assailed him. On shore Kazan was his
master because of his swiftness, keen
er scent, and fighting trickery. In the
water the otter was still greater
, menace. He was swifter than the fish
that he caught for food. His teeth were
like steel needles. He was so sleek
and slippery that 1t would have been
impossible for them to hold him with
their chisel like teeth could they have
caught him. The otter like the beaver
/ possessed no hunger for blood. Yet In
all the Northland he was the greatest
destroyer Of their kind - an even
greater destroyer than man. He came
and passed like plague, and 1t was IN
| the coolest days of winter that great
est destruction came with him. IN
those days he did not assault the beav-
ers in their snug houses. He did what
man could do only with dynamite -
made an embrasure through their dam.
swiftly the water would fall, the sur
face ice would crash down. and the
beaver houses would be left out OF
water. Then followed death for the
beavers - starvation and cold, With
the protecting water gone from about
their houses, the drained pond a cha
otto mass Of broken Ice, and the tenn
perature forty or fifty degrees below
zero, they would die within a few
hours. For the beaver, with his thick
coat of fur, can stand less cold tnan
man. Through all the long winter the
water about his home Is as necessary
to him as fire to a child.
! But it was summer now and Broken
Tooth and his colony had no very
great fear of the otter. 1t would cost
them some labor to repair the damage
he did, but there was plenty of food
and it was warm. For two days the
otter frisked about the dam and the
deep water of the pond. Kazan took
him for a beaver. and tried vainly to
stalk him. The otter regarded kazan
suspiciouslv and kept well out OF his
way. Neither knew that the other was
an ally. Meanwhile the beavers con-
tinued their work with greater caution.
The water in the pond had now risen
to point where the engineers had be-
gun the construction of three lodges.
| On the third day the destructive in
stinct Of the otter began It's work. He
! began to examine the dam, close down
to the foundation. It was not long be-
fore he found a weak spot to begin
work on, and with his sharp teeth and
small bullet like head he commenced
his drilling operations. Inch by inch
f. he worked his way through the dam,
burrowing and gnawing over and I'M
der the timbers, and always through
the cement. The round hole he made
was fully seven inches in diameter. In
six hours he had cut it through the five
foot base of the dam.
! A torrent of water began to rush
from the pond as if forced out by
hydraulic pump. Kazan and Gray
Wolf were hiding in the willows on the
south side of the pond when this hap
nened. They heard the roar Of the
, stream tearing through the embrasure
and Kazan saw the otter crawl up to
the ton of the dam and shake himself
like a huge water rat Within thirty
minutes the water in the pond had fall