| Show A PET BEAVER BEAVER- I I I Joe JoeF Is one of the best known guides hunters and trap trappers ers In the Stat i. i of Maine He lives on what is known knop as the Deadwater I v on the west branch of the Pen about twenty three miles from Norcross Me Like all hunters and trappers he lives in a cabin of his own ownen en on the rivers river's bank and makes many trips In all directions in his canoe His home is the rendezvous for hunters and guides When they assemble in FranI Francis's Franciss Fran Fran- I ciss cis's house at night time and after they have had their supper of fried bacon and bread and cigars have been I 11 lighted the rich stories that are aie told I of hunting life are remembered for years by those woo who listen to them It Iti Itis i is s useless to say that all of these a basis of truth but before they are finished the imagination II tion runs to a point somewhat higher than the limit allowed In a courtroom or other places One night when all of the guides had told their stories of experiences experiences ex ex- both quaint and terrible Old Joe himself straightened up ant and said Now Ill I'll give yer a true story Of course everybody at Ince prepared to listen It was some y years rs ago went on Joe when I trapped an old mother beaver and her three little ones I secured secured se se- cured the pelt of the mother beaver which which was was a fine one and the three little little lit lit- tle ones I took home with me I began to try to raise them on a little gruel I Imade Imade made up out of flour and water Well they didn't thrive very much on it at least two of them didn't and they n naturally pined away and died I had one left and he was the brightest little little lit lit- tle fellow you ever saw He sorter took naturally to the gru gruel 1 I made for him and begun to thrive all right I r stopped feeding him with a spoon after a while and made a bottle of the stuff e each ch night It was Just worth anybody's money to see that little be beaver ver take takeI that bottle squat on his hind legs and I drink it until he had enough When he was about five weeks old would yer believe believe be be- lieve it he begun to build dams dams' Up to that time he had been sleeping In the same bed with me at night and we would keep each other warm Early one morning before day had begun to crack I saw him creep outer the bed and begin to gather everything lying around and pull up to the cracks of the door He even got my shirt and the first thing I knew he had the slickest little dam made that you ever saw He kept doing that thing every morning until he had used up all my clothes and I h had d to pull them away from the door every mornin before I could dress myself X 1 got very fond of that little fellow and I thought he was Wu the slickest little thing that tha ever everI lived I got out of one day and I went up p to the n nearest arest trading point to get It and some other things but I forgot all about the flour and when I got back my little pet was very hun hungry gry and I didn't know what to do but I that I had some self rising flour in th the house I was kind kinder r doubtful about giving him that but as the little beav beaver r was so hungry hungry hun hun- gry I saw that I Just had to give him something So I mixed up a little of the flour and gave him It didn't seem to hurt him or do him any harm so I Imade Imade made h him m up a bottle o ort t it W Well ll It wasn't many hours before that beaver began to rise and swell and I couldn't stop it Before midnight that little beaver h had d swelled up until he w s as as big as his mother was was' and I had to kill him to end his pains but I got pay for fora a grown beavers beaver's pelt anyhow Every Everybody ody silently acknowledged that that was one of the biggest II lies told that night |
