The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
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Thornton W. Burgess >> The Adventures of Paddy the Beaver
In a little while back came Sammy, all out of breath. "It's all
right," he panted. "You can go to work just as soon as you
please."
Paddy looked more puzzled than ever. "How do you know?" he asked.
"I haven't seen you looking around."
"I did better than that," replied Sammy. "If Old Man Coyote had
been hiding somewhere in the Green Forest, it might have taken me
some time to find him. But he isn't. You see, I flew straight
over to his home in the Green Meadows to see if he is there, and
he is. He's taking a sun bath and looking as cross as two sticks.
I don't think he'll be back here this morning, but I'll keep a
sharp watch while you work."
Paddy made Sammy a low bow. "You certainly are smart, Mr. Jay,"
said he. "I wouldn't have thought of going over to Old Man
Coyote's home to see if he was there. I'll feel perfectly safe
with you on guard. Now I'll get to work."
CHAPTER XXI Paddy and Sammy Jay Work Together.
Jerry Muskrat had been home at the Smiling Pool for several days.
But he couldn't stay there long. Oh, my, no! He just had to get
back to see what his big cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was doing. So
as soon as he was sure that everything was all right at the
Smiling Pool he hurried back up the Laughing Brook to Paddy's
pond, deep in the Green Forest. As soon as he was in sight of it,
he looked eagerly for Paddy. At first he didn't see him. Then he
stopped and gazed over at the place where Paddy had been cutting
aspen trees for food. Something was going on there, something
queer. He couldn't make it out.
Jus then Sammy Jay came flying over.
"What's Paddy doing?" Jerry asked.
Sammy Jay dropped down to the top of an alder tree and fluffed
out all his feathers in a very important way. "Oh," said he,
"Paddy and I are building something!"
"You! Paddy and you! Ha, ha! Paddy and you building something!"
Jerry laughed.
"Yes, me!" snapped Sammy angrily. "That's what I said; Paddy and
I are building something."
Jerry had begun to swim across the pond by this time, and Sammy
was flying across. "Why don't you tell the truth, Sammy, and say
that Paddy is building something and you are making him all the
trouble you can?" called Jerry.
Sammy's eyes snapped angrily, and he darted down at Jerry's
little brown head. "It isn't true!" he shrieked. "You ask Paddy
if I'm not helping!"
Jerry ducked under water to escape Sammy's sharp bill. When he
came up again, Sammy was over in the little grove of aspen trees
where Paddy was at work. Then Jerry discovered something. What
was it? Why a little water-path led right up to the aspen trees,
and there, at the end of the little water-path, was Paddy the
Beaver hard at work. He was digging and piling the earth on one
side very neatly. In fact, he was making the water-path longer.
Jerry swam right up the little water-path to where Paddy was
working. "Good morning, Cousin Paddy," said he. "What are you
doing?"
"Oh," replied Paddy, "Sammy Jay and I are building a canal."
Sammy Jay looked down at Jerry in triumph, and Jerry looked at
Paddy as if he thought that he was joking.
"Sammy Jay? What's Sammy Jay got to do about it?" demanded Jerry.
"A whole lot," replied Paddy. "You see, he keeps watch while I
work. If he didn't, I couldn't work, and there wouldn't be any
canal. Old Man Coyote has been trying to catch me, and I wouldn't
dare work on shore if it wasn't that I am sure that the sharpest
eyes in the Green Forest are watching for danger."
Sammy Jay looked very much pleased indeed and very proud.
"So you see, it takes both of us to make this canal; I dig while
Sammy watches. So we are building it together," concluded Paddy
with a twinkle in his eyes.
"I see," said Jerry slowly. Then he turned to Sammy Jay. "I beg
your pardon, Sammy," said he. "I do indeed."
"That's all right," replied Sammy airily. "What do you think of
our canal?"
"I think it is wonderful," replied Jerry.
And indeed it was a very fine canal, straight, wide, and deep
enough for Paddy to swim in and float his logs out to the pond.
Yes, indeed, it was a very fine canal.
CHAPTER XXII Paddy Finishes His Harvest.
"Sharp his tongue and sharp his eyes--
Sammy guards against surprise.
If 'twere not for Sammy Jay
I could do no work today."
When Sammy overheard Paddy the Beaver say that to Jerry Muskrat,
it made him swell up all over with pure pride. You see, Sammy is
so used to hearing bad things about himself that to hear
something nice like that pleased him immensely. He straightway
forgot all the mean things he had said to Paddy when he first saw
him--how he had called him a thief because he had cut the aspen
trees he needed. He forgot all this. He forgot how Paddy had made
him the laughingstock of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows
by cutting down the very tree in which he had been sitting. He
forgot everything but that Paddy had trusted him to keep watch
and now was saying nice things about him. He made up his mind
that he would deserve all the nice things that Paddy could say,
and he thought that Paddy was the finest fellow in the world.
Jerry Muskrat looked doubtful. He didn't trust Sammy, and he took
care not to go far from the water when he heard that Old Man
Coyote had been hanging around. But Paddy worked away just as if
he hadn't a fear in the world.
"The way to make people want to be trusted is to trust them" said
he to himself. "If I show Sammy Jay that I don't really trust
him, he will think it is of no use to try and will give it up.
But if I do trust him, and he knows that I do, he'll be the best
watchman in the Green Forest."
And this shows that Paddy the Beaver has a great deal of wisdom,
for it was just as he thought. Sammy was on hand bright and early
every morning. He made sure that Old Man Coyote was nowhere in
the Green Forest, and then he settled himself comfortably in the
top of a tall pine tree where he could see all that was going on
while Paddy the Beaver worked.
Paddy had finished his canal, and a beautiful canal it was,
leading straight from his pond up to the aspen trees. As soon as
he had finished it, he began to cut the trees. As soon as one was
down he would cut it into short lengths and roll them into the
canal. Then he would float them out to his pond and over to his
storehouse. He took the larger branches, on which there was
sweet, tender bark, in the same way, for Paddy is never wasteful.
After a while he went over to his storehouse, which, you know,
was nothing but a great pile of aspen logs and branches in his
pond close by his house. He studied it very carefully. Then he
swam back and climbed up on the bank of his canal.
"Mr. Jay," said he, "I think our work is about finished."
"What!" cried Sammy, "Aren't you going to cut the rest of those
aspen trees?"
"No," replied Paddy. "Enough is always enough, and I've got
enough to last me all winter. I want those trees for next year.
Now I am fixed for the winter. I think I'll take it easy for a
while."
Sammy looked disappointed. You see, he had just begun to learn
that the greatest pleasure in the world comes from doing things
for other people. For the first time since he could remember,
someone wanted him around land it gave him such a good feeling
down deep inside! Perhaps it was because he remembered that good
feeling that the next spring he was so willing and anxious to
help poor Mrs. Quack. What he did for her and all about her
terrible adventures I will tell you in the next book.