Chapter 19, Beaver and Chapter 20, Snarling Grizzly Bears Summary and Analysis

Chapter 19 is about beavers, and Sidney talks about their dam-building, fine fur, and desirable meat. In the mid-1930s, Jimmy and Sidney go beaver hunting. Jimmy finds a beaver house, but Sidney is sick from eating moldy salmon and cannot hunt. After eating beaver shot by Jimmy, he feels better. The brothers go after more beaver, but Sidney's sled breaks through the ice, scattering most of their supplies. They must make do on the beaver and geese they kill, and Sidney loses 25 pounds. On the same trip, a bear charges at the two, and Jimmy shoots it while Sidney struggles uncasing his rifle and learns never to carry a cased rifle in the wild.

Sidney describes the traditional method of hunting beaver by destroying supplemental houses so all the...