University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1915-09-07

i, sire to destroy his beaver enemies be
came the consuming passion of hi:
life. Each day the dam became more
formidable. Cement work in the wa
ter was carried on by the beaver.
swiftly and safely. The water in the
pond rose higher each twenty-foul
hours, and the pond grew steadily
wider The water had now beer
turned into the depression that en-
circled 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
watched his opportunity to leap upon
incautious members of Broken Tooth's S
tribe. The third day after the strug-
gle 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 flooded depression back of the
windfall and Kazan caught them in
shallow water and tore them into
pieces. After these successful as
saults the beavers began to work
mostly at night This was to Kazan's
advantage, for he was a night-hunter.
On each of two consecutive nights he
killed a beaver. Counting the young,
he had killed seven when the otter
came.
Never had broken Tooth been
placed between two deadlier or more
ferocious enemies than the two that
now assailed him. On shore KaZan
was his master because of his swift
ness, keener scent, and fighting
trickery. In the water the otter was
still greater menace. He was swift
er than the fish that he caught for
food His teeth were like steel nee
that it 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 de-
stroyer of their kind-an even greater
destroyer than man. He came and
passed like a plague, and it was in
the coolest of winter that greatest de-
struction came with him. In those
days he did not assault the beavers in
their snug houses. He did what man
could do only with dynamite-made an
embrasure through their dam. Swift
ly the water would fall, the surface
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 pro-
tecting water gone from about their
houses, the drained pond chaotic
mass of broken ice, and the tempera-
ture 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 than man.
Through all the long winter the wa
ter about his home is as necessary to
him as fire to a child.
D,,x ;+ ,,,o. c,,p,xoo, nou, and Drolo,
Tooth and his colony had no very
great fear of the otter. 1t would cost
them some labor to repair the dam
age 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 vain |
ly to stalk him. The otter regarded |
Kazan suspiciously and kept well out |
of his way. Neither knew that the |
otter was an ally. Meanwhile the |
beavers continued their work with |
greater caution. The water in the
pond had now risen to point where
the engineers had begun the construc-
ton of three lodges On the third day
the destructive instinct of the otter
began its work. He began to examine
the dam, close down to the founda-
ton. 1t was not long before 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 he worked
his way through the dam, burpowing
and gnawing over and under the tim
bers, 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 IL forced out by a
hydraulic pump. Kazan and Gray
Wolf were hiding in the willows on