But it was summer now and Broken Tooth and his colony had no very great fear of the otter.  It 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 suspiciously and kept well out of his way.  Neither knew that the other was an ally.  Meanwhile the beavers continued their work with greater caution.  The water in the pond had now risen to a point where the engineers had begun the construction 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 foundation.  It 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, burrowing and gnawing over and under 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 a hydraulic pump.  Kazan and Gray Wolf were hiding in the willows on the south side of the pond when this happened.  They heard the roar of the stream tearing through the embrasure and Kazan saw the otter crawl up to the top of the dam and shake himself like a huge water-rat.  Within thirty minutes the water in the pond had fallen perceptibly, and the force of the water pouring through the hole was constantly increasing the outlet.  In another half hour the foundations of the three lodges, which had been laid in about ten inches of water, stood on mud.  Not until Broken Tooth discovered that the water was receding from the houses did he take alarm.  He was thrown into a panic, and very soon every beaver in the colony tearing excitedly about the pond.  They swam swiftly from shore to shore, paying no attention to the dead-line now.  Broken Tooth and the older workmen made for the dam, and with a snarling cry the otter plunged down among them and out like a flash for the creek above the pond.  Swiftly the water continued to fall and as it fell the excitement of the beavers increased.  They forgot Kazan and Gray Wolf.

Several of the younger members of the colony drew themselves ashore on the windfall side of the pond, and whining softly Kazan was about to slip back through the willows when one of the older beavers waddled up through the deepening mud close on his ambush.  In two leaps Kazan was upon him, with Gray Wolf a leap behind him.  The short fierce struggle in the mud was seen by the other beavers and they crossed swiftly to the opposite side of the pond.  The water had receded to a half of its greatest width before Broken Tooth and his workmen discovered the breach in the wall of the dam.  The work of repair