Midnight turned away from the lake. He did not like the confining feel of this little mesa. He limped as he walked and his shoulder pained him, but he was not hurt badly. He wandered all the way around the mesa and discovered no trail leading off it except at the lower end where a ten-foot crevice cut through a ledge along the side of the canyon wall. He turned back and began feeding uneasily on the green shoots pushing up through the dead grass. The old beavers came up again and set to work. A ptarmigan strutted in the dry leaves under the aspens and a snowshoe rabbit hopped out of a thicket. The big bunny sat down and began nibbling on a tender weed-stalk. 9. Prisoner Midnight fed on the rich, new grass until he was no longer hungry, then he made another trip around the rim and along the cliff wall. He wanted to escape from this tight little pasture. The only avenue of escape lay across the crevice and along the ledge beyond. Midnight stood at the edge of the yawning abyss and shook his head restlessly. The leap was a long one, too long for him to try. The little stallion turned back to the beaver lake. The pair of beavers were busily lacing willows along the top of their dam. As they wove the willows into place they plastered black mud on them. They were master engineers, and their dam was sturdy and strong. They stopped work and gazed at Midnight but they did not plunge into the water. They accepted him as one of the dwellers of their little world under the rim, a harmless animal who would not attack them. Midnight trotted into the aspen grove and lay down. Above him green buds were bursting and pale-green leaves had begun to show. The bushes along the wall were leaved out and many flowers bloomed. The little mesa lay facing the sun. Its protected acreage afforded growing things a chance to get started before other mesas came to life. The spot Midnight had picked for his bed was near the cliff face. He could see the rim above. A group of five Englemann’s spruce grew near the wall. Their straight trunks towered well above the rim and looked out across the high mesa where the cabin stood. One of them grew so close to the cliff face that its trunk touched the rim above. Midnight drowsed, his eyes fixed lazily upon the leaning spruce. Suddenly they popped wide open. He saw a big brown bear slide off the rim above and come down the trunk, sliding and scraping the bark loose in a shower of wood bits. The bear was descending tail first, moving around the tree as he came down.