"There's one thing that we haven't seen yet," added Charley, "and that's
their houses. They ought to be some distance above the dam."

"I wonder if those are beaver lodges," said Lew, pointing to some bulky
heaps of brush at a little distance up-stream.

"That's exactly what they are. They don't look much like houses, do they?
But I guess they're pretty snug inside. The entrances are deep under
water, you know, so that the ice can't clog them in winter, and so that
the beavers can get to their food all right."

"What do they eat, Charley? Do you know?"

"Sure. They eat roots, and tender plants, but mostly bark from certain
trees. I believe these are willow, poplar, birch, and some others. They
cut down the wood in summer and pile it under water in front of their
huts and hold it down with stones."

"Well, what do you think of that!" cried Lew.

"They eat a pile of it, too. I don't remember how many trees that article
said a colony of beavers would eat in a winter, but I'm sure it was up in
the hundreds. I remember how astonished I was when I read about it."

"No wonder they clear the forest so fast. I wonder if we ought to tell Mr.
Marlin. Maybe he doesn't know about these beavers. They might begin to cut
down his virgin pines. I'm sure he wouldn't want that to happen."

Charley laughed. "I'd bet my last dollar that Mr. Marlin knows all about