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diff --git a/old/62794-h/62794-h.htm b/old/62794-h/62794-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index ec4f932..0000000 --- a/old/62794-h/62794-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4596 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> - - <title> - Toto, the Bustling Beaver, by Richard Barnum—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - -/* DACSoft styles */ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - -/* General headers */ -h1 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; -} - -/* Chapter headers */ -h2 { - text-align: center; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5em; -} - -div.chapter { - page-break-before: always; -} - -h2.nobreak { - page-break-before: avoid; -} - -/* Indented paragraph */ -p { - margin-top: .51em; - margin-bottom: .49em; - text-align: justify; - text-indent: 1em; -} - -/* Unindented paragraph */ -.noi { text-indent: 0em; } - -/* Centered unindented paragraph */ -.noic { - text-indent: 0em; - text-align: center; -} - -/* Drop caps */ -p.cap { text-indent: 0em; } - -p.cap:first-letter { - float: left; - padding-right: 3px; - font-size: 250%; - line-height: 83%; -} - -/* Non-standard paragraph margins */ -.p2 { margin-top: 2em; } -.p4 { margin-top: 4em; } - -/* Horizontal rules */ -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} - -hr.r20 { - width: 20%; - margin-left: 40%; - margin-right: 40%; - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; -} - -/* Lists */ -ul { list-style-type: none; } - -li { - text-indent: 0em; - padding-left: 0em; -} - -/* Tables */ -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} - -/* Table cell alignments */ -.tdl {text-align: left;} - -.tdrb { - text-align: right; - vertical-align: bottom; -} - -.tdrt { - text-align: right; - padding-right: 0.75em; - vertical-align: top; -} - -th { - font-weight: normal; -} - -/* Physical book page and line numbers */ -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - right: 3%; -/* left: 92%; */ - font-size: x-small; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-align: right; - color: gray; -} /* page numbers */ - -/* Text appearance */ -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - -/* Small fonts and lowercase small-caps */ -.smfont { - font-size: .8em; -} - -.smfontr { - font-size: .75em; - text-align: right; -} - -/* Illustration caption */ -.caption { - font-size: .75em; - font-weight: bold; -} - -/* Images */ -img { - max-width: 100%; /* no image to be wider than screen or containing div */ - height:auto; /* keep height in proportion to width */ -} - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - max-width: 90%; /* div no wider than screen, even when screen is narrow */ -} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.tnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - padding-bottom: .5em; - padding-top: .5em; - padding-left: .5em; - padding-right: .5em; -} - -.tntitle { - font-size: 1.25em; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -/* Title page borders and content. */ -.title { - font-size: 1.75em; - font-weight: bold; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -.subtitle { - font-size: 1.5em; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -.author { - font-size: 1.25em; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -.works { - font-size: .75em; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -/* Advertisement formatting. */ -.adbox { - border: 2px solid black; - padding-left: 1em; - padding-right: 1em; - margin: auto; - width: 20em; -} - -@media handheld { - .adbox { - border: 2px solid black; - padding: 1em; - margin: auto; - max-width: 100%; - } -} - -.adauthor { - font-size: 1.25em; - text-align: center; - clear: both; -} - -/* Hanging indent. */ -.hang { - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 3em; -} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Toto, the Bustling Beaver, by Richard Barnum - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Toto, the Bustling Beaver - His Many Adventures - -Author: Richard Barnum - -Illustrator: Walter S. Rogers - -Release Date: July 31, 2020 [EBook #62794] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOTO, THE BUSTLING BEAVER *** - - - - -Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - - - -<div class="figcenter" id="cover"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="cover" title="cover" /> -</div> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="figcenter" id="i_frontis"> - <img src="images/i_frontis.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_55">Right on top of the bark cabin crashed the tree.</a></div> -</div> - - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<p class="noi subtitle"><i>Kneetime Animal Stories</i></p> - -<h1>TOTO<br /> -THE BUSTLING BEAVER</h1> - -<p class="noi subtitle">HIS MANY ADVENTURES</p> - -<p class="p2 noic">BY</p> - -<p class="noi author">RICHARD BARNUM</p> - -<p class="noi works">Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum Tum, the<br /> -Jolly Elephant,” “Sharp Eyes, the Silver Fox,”<br /> -“Tamba, the Tame Tiger,” “Nero,<br /> -the Circus Lion,” Etc.</p> - -<p class="p4 noi works"><i>ILLUSTRATED BY</i></p> - -<p class="noic"><i>WALTER S. ROGERS</i></p> - -<p class="p4 noic">NEW YORK<br /> -<span class="noi adauthor">BARSE & HOPKINS</span><br /> -PUBLISHERS</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="adbox"> -<p class="noi author">KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES</p> - -<p class="noic">By Richard Barnum</p> - -<p class="noic"><i>Large 12mo. Illustrated.</i></p> - - -<ul> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Squinty, The Comical Pig.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Slicko, The Jumping Squirrel.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Mappo, The Merry Monkey.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Tum Tum, The Jolly Elephant.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Don, A Runaway Dog.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Dido, The Dancing Bear.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Blackie, A Lost Cat.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Flop Ear, The Funny Rabbit.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Tinkle, The Trick Pony.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Lightfoot, The Leaping Goat.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Chunky, The Happy Hippo.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Sharp Eyes, The Silver Fox.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Nero, The Circus Lion.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Tamba, The Tame Tiger.</span></li> -<li class="hang"><span class="smcap">Toto, The Bustling Beaver.</span></li> -</ul> - -<p class="noic">BARSE & HOPKINS<br /> -Publishers New York</p> -</div> - -<p class="p2 noic">Copyright, 1920<br /> -by<br /> -Barse & Hopkins</p> - -<hr class="r20" /> - -<p class="noic"><i>Toto, the Bustling Beaver</i></p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - - -<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> -<col style="width: 20%;" /> -<col style="width: 70%;" /> -<col style="width: 10%;" /> -<tr> - <th class="smfontr">CHAPTER</th> - <th class="tdl"></th> - <th class="smfontr">PAGE</th> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">I</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">Toto Helps Millie</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">7</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">II</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">Toto Learns to Gnaw</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">17</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">III</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">Toto Meets Don</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">26</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">IV</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">Toto and the Tramps</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">35</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">V</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Toto Sees Something Queer</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">46</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">VI</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">Toto and the Burglars</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">54</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">VII</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">Toto and the Boy</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">64</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">VIII</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">Toto Meets Blackie</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">71</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">IX</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Toto in a Trap</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">81</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">X</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Toto on a Boat</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">89</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">XI</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">Toto Gets Home Again</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">98</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdrt">XII</td> - <td class="tdl smcap"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">Toto in a Storm</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">108</td> -</tr> -</table> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - - -<table border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations"> -<col style="width: 80%;" /> -<col style="width: 20%;" /> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_frontis">Right on top of the bark cabin crashed the -tree</a></td> - <td class="tdrb"><i>Frontispiece</i></td> -</tr> -<tr> - <th class="tdl hang"> </th> - <th class="smfontr">PAGE</th> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p023">And he slipped down, tail first through the -hole</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">23</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p041">Crash! Bang! went the big tree</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">41</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p059">Everybody in the beaver colony had work to do</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">59</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p079">“I’ll help you down out of the tree,” said Toto -cheerfully</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">79</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p095">And then, through the bushes, came a boy</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">95</td> -</tr> -<tr> - <td class="tdl hang"><a href="#i_p113">A tree had fallen on Toto’s back, pinning him -to the ground</a></td> - <td class="tdrb">113</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span></p> - - - - -<p class="noi title">TOTO,<br /> -THE BUSTLING BEAVER</p> - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I<br /> -<small>TOTO HELPS MILLIE</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">“Toto! Toto! Where are you?”</p> - -<p>There was no answer to this call, -which Mrs. Beaver, the mother of -Toto, sounded as she climbed up on the ice and -looked around for her little boy. Mrs. Beaver -sat on her broad, flat tail, which really made quite -a good seat, and with her sharp eyes she looked -up and down Winding River for a sight of Toto. -Then she called again, in beaver animal language -of course:</p> - -<p>“Toto! Toto! Come home this minute! -You’ve been out on the ice long enough! And -goodness knows we’ve had plenty of ice and snow -this winter,” went on Mrs. Beaver, and she kept -on looking up and down the frozen river. “I’ll be -glad when spring comes so we beavers can gnaw -down trees, eat the soft bark, and make dams for -our houses,” she added.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span></p> - -<p>But though she called as loudly as she could, -and looked sharply up and down the river, which -was covered with a sheet of smooth ice, Mrs. -Beaver could see nothing of her little boy, Toto.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked an old gentleman -beaver, who came along just then. “Has Toto -run away?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know that I’d call it exactly running -away, Mr. Cuppy,” answered Mrs. Beaver. “I -said he could go out of the house and play on the -ice a little while, but I told him to come back and -get his willow bark lunch. But he hasn’t come, -so I walked out to call him.”</p> - -<p>“And he doesn’t answer,” said Mr. Cuppy, the -old beaver gentleman, with a laugh—of course he -laughed animal fashion, and not as you do. “I -guess Toto is off playing tag, or something like -that, on the ice with the other beaver boys,” added -Mr. Cuppy. “I’m going down the river to call -on some friends of mine. If I see Toto I’ll tell -him you want him.”</p> - -<p>“I wish you would,” said Mrs. Beaver. -“Please tell him to come straight home.”</p> - -<p>“I will,” answered Mr. Cuppy, and then he got -up from the ice, where he had sat down on his -broad, flat tail to talk to Toto’s mother, and -walked slowly down the ice-covered river which -ran into Clearwater Lake.</p> - -<p>That is, the river ran in summer time. In<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> -winter it was frozen over, though of course the -water ran under the ice, where boys and girls -could not see it. But Toto, Mr. Cuppy, and the -other beavers could see it, for they could dive -under the ice and swim in the water that flowed -beneath it. In fact, they would rather swim in -the water, cold as it was, than walk on the ice.</p> - -<p>For a beaver can not very well walk on the -ice—it is too slippery. Nor can a beaver walk -very fast even on dry ground. But, my! how -fast they can swim in water. So, though beavers -very often come out on the land, or shore, they -always run for the water, dive down, and swim -away as soon as there is the least sign of danger.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beaver walked back toward the hole in -the ice through which she intended getting into -her house, where she lived with her husband, Mr. -Beaver, Toto, and another little beaver boy named -Sniffy.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beaver’s home looked just like a bundle -of sticks from the woodpile, laid together criss-cross -fashion. In fact, if you had seen it from -the outside you would have said it was only a -heap of rubbish.</p> - -<p>This heap of sticks was built out near the middle -of Winding River, which was not a very large -stream. And now that the river was frozen, the -pile of sticks, which made the beaver house, was -heaped up above the frozen ice.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span></p> - -<p>The front door to the beaver home was under -water—so far under that it did not freeze—and -when Toto or any of the family wanted to come -out, they had to dive down, swim under water, -and come out on top some distance away. When -the river was not frozen they could come out of -the water wherever they pleased. But when Jack -Frost had made the river a solid, hard sheet of -ice, the beavers had to come out of it just where -a hole had been made for them. Sometimes they -made the hole themselves by blowing their warm -breath on the underside of the ice, and sometimes -they used an airhole such as you often see when -you are skating.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beaver found the hole through the ice, -dived down into the water, swam along a short -distance until she reached the front door of her -house of sticks and frozen mud, and then she -went up inside.</p> - -<p>The house was nicely lined inside with soft -grass, and there were a number of short pieces -of sticks scattered about. It was the bark from -these sticks that the beavers lived on in winter.</p> - -<p>“Did you find Toto?” asked Mr. Beaver, who -was taking a little nap in the house.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t,” answered Mrs. Beaver. “But -I met Mr. Cuppy, the old grandfather beaver, you -know, and he said if he saw Toto he’d send our -little boy home.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span></p> - -<p>“That is very kind of Mr. Cuppy.” Mr. -Beaver stretched himself. “Well, I think I’ll -gnaw a little more bark.”</p> - -<p>“I want some, too!” called Sniffy, the other -little beaver boy.</p> - -<p>“Here you are!” said his mother, and she took -some of the bark-covered sticks from a pile at -one side of the house.</p> - -<p>Of course it was dark inside the house, for mud -was plastered thickly over the crossed sticks to -keep out the cold and snow. But beavers can -see well enough in the dark, just as owls can, -or cats.</p> - -<p>After Mr. Cuppy had watched Mrs. Beaver -dive down through the ice and swim away, he -walked on down the frozen river. He looked -from side to side as he waddled slowly along, -hoping to see Toto. But the beaver boy was not -in sight.</p> - -<p>And now, so that you may wonder no longer -what had become of the little beaver boy, I’ll tell -you where he was and some of the wonderful adventures -that happened to him.</p> - -<p>Toto had asked his mother if he might go out -on the ice and play, and she had said he might. -Toto was about a year old, having been born the -previous spring, and he knew that in winter there -was not much to eat outside the beaver house. -But he had gnawed a number of sticks of poplar,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> -and of willow, with the sweet, juicy bark on, and -now he was not hungry. He was tired of being -cooped up in the dark house, frozen fast in the -river. So Toto had gone out, and had walked -along the ice until he was quite a long way from -home.</p> - -<p>“But I guess I can easily find my way back,” -thought Toto to himself. “It’s pretty slippery -walking, and I’d a good deal rather swim, but if -I walk slowly I won’t slip.”</p> - -<p>So he had walked along the ice until he was out -of sight of his home, around one of the many -curves in Winding River. That was the reason -Mrs. Beaver could not see her little boy, and -also why Toto could not hear his mother calling -to him. He did not really mean to stay out when -his mother did not want him to.</p> - -<p>“Ah, that looks like something good to eat!” -said Toto to himself, as he saw some straggly -bushes growing on the bank of the river. The -bushes had no leaves on, of course, for this was -March, and winter was still king of the land. -But Toto thought there might be bark on some -of the twigs of the bushes, and bark was what the -beavers mostly ate in winter. He was not hungry, -but Toto, like other boys, was always ready -to eat.</p> - -<p>Toto walked slowly over the ice, and, standing -up on his hind legs and partly sitting on his broad,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -flat tail, which was almost like the mortar trowel -a mason uses, the little beaver boy began to gnaw -the bark.</p> - -<p>But he had not taken more than a bite or two -before he stopped suddenly.</p> - -<p>“Ouch!” cried Toto. “Something bit me!”</p> - -<p>He looked about—there were no bees or wasps -flying, which might have stung him. Still something -had pricked him on his tongue. Then he -looked more closely at the twig he had been gnawing.</p> - -<p>“Oh, ho!” exclaimed Toto. “No wonder! -This is a blackberry bush, and the thorns pricked -me. I won’t gnaw any more of this bark.”</p> - -<p>Toto backed away and started over the ice -again, but he had not moved more than a few feet -from the thick clump of blackberry bushes, growing -on the edge of the river, when, all of a sudden, -the little beaver boy heard a queer noise—several -noises, in fact.</p> - -<p>One was a tinkly sound, a sound Toto remembered -to have heard when in summer a farmer -was hoeing corn in a field near the river, and his -hoe struck on a stone in the dirt. Then came the -noise of a thud, as if something heavy had fallen -on the ice. And after that sounded the voice of -a little girl saying:</p> - -<p>“Oh dear! There goes my skate!”</p> - -<p>Of course Toto did not understand man, girl,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> -or boy talk. But he knew what it was, for in -the summer, as he played around his stick-home -in the river, he had often heard the farmer and -his hired men talking in the fields not far away. -So, though Toto did not know what the little -girl said, he knew it was the same sound the -farmer and his men had made when they talked -to one another. And Toto was afraid of men, -and boys and girls, too, though I don’t believe -any girl would have tried to hurt or catch the -beaver, nice as is their fur.</p> - -<p>But this particular little girl, whose name was -Millie Watson, did not even know Toto was near -her. She had been skating on the ice when one -of her skates suddenly came off, and she fell down.</p> - -<p>The tinkly sound the beaver heard was the loose -steel skate sliding over the ice and striking a -stone near the bush under which Toto was hidden. -The thudding sound was that made by Millie when -she fell. But she was not hurt.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear!” she said again. “I wonder where -my skate slid to. I can’t get along on only one -skate, and it’s slow walking on the ice. Where -is it?”</p> - -<p>She slowly arose to her feet. One skate was -still on her foot, but on the other shoe was only -a loose strap. Millie, who had skated from her -home to take a little pail of soup to her grandmother,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> -who lived farther down the river, was -on her way back when she lost her skate.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see where it can be,” mused the little -girl, looking here and there on the ice. The -reason she could not see the skate was because -it had slid under the edge of the overhanging -berry bush.</p> - -<p>“I hope she doesn’t see me!” thought Toto, as -he crouched down under the twigs. “I wish it -were summer, and there were leaves on this bush. -I could hide better then, and the river wouldn’t -be frozen, so I could swim away very fast if this -girl comes after me. Dear me! I wonder what -she is doing here, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>Toto did not know much about skating. But -as he peered out at the little girl he saw her pushing -herself along on one foot, and on that foot -was something long, thin and shiny. It sparkled -in the sun, just as the blade of the farmer’s hoe -sometimes sparkled.</p> - -<p>Toto looked on either side of him, and there, -close to him, was another shiny thing, just like -the one the girl had on one foot. Toto could -see the girl moving slowly along, and looking from -side to side.</p> - -<p>“She must be looking for me!” thought Toto, -and his heart began to beat very fast, for his -father and mother had told him always to keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> -away from men and boys; and this girl was probably -just like a boy, the little beaver thought. -He had seen boys along the river bank in summer -trying to catch muskrats, and sometimes trying to -catch beavers, too. Toto did not want to be -caught.</p> - -<p>So he crouched lower and lower under the -bush, and then, all of a sudden, his feet slipped on -the ice and they struck the long, shiny thing that -was like the object the girl had on one foot.</p> - -<p>Instantly there was another tinkly sound, and -the shiny thing slid across the ice, out from under -the overhanging bush and straight toward the -little girl.</p> - -<p>“Oh! Oh!” cried Millie, clapping her mittened -hands. “Here is my lost skate! It was -under the bush, but I wonder what pushed it out! -There must be something there! I’m going to -look!”</p> - -<p>Toto heard this talk, but did not know what it -was. However, he could see the little girl stoop -down and pick up the skate he had accidentally -knocked over the ice to her. Then he saw Millie -come straight toward the bush under which he -was hiding!</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II<br /> -<small>TOTO LEARNS TO GNAW</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Toto, the little beaver boy, was a bright, -bustling chap. He was what is called -a “hustler” or a “bustler”—that is, some -one always ready for work or play. But just -now, as Toto saw the little girl coming toward -the bush where he was hidden, he did not know -what to do.</p> - -<p>“But I’m going to do something!” thought the -beaver boy. “I’m not going to let her catch me! -Maybe that’s a trap she tried to get me in—maybe -that shiny thing is a trap!”</p> - -<p>Toto knew what traps were, for his father and -mother had told him about them, and how to keep -away from their sharp teeth that caught beavers -and muskrats by the legs.</p> - -<p>Millie came closer and closer. With bright, -eager eyes, almost as bright and eager as those of -Toto himself, she looked at the bush.</p> - -<p>Toto was all ready to run, and he wished, more -than ever, that the river was not frozen, since -he would not have been a bit afraid if he could -have jumped in the flowing stream to swim away.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> -He was not afraid of any creature in the water, -and the fishes were friends of his.</p> - -<p>Then, all at once, just as Toto was going to -start to run and do his best on the slippery ice, -he felt himself falling. He had been standing on -the edge of the frozen river, where the ice was -very thin, and it had given away, letting him down -through a hole into the water.</p> - -<p>“Oh, now I’m all right!” said Toto to himself -when he felt the water wetting his thick fur, -though it could not wet his skin beneath.</p> - -<p>And so he was. He was in water now, where -he felt much more at home than on the ice. <a href="#i_p023">And -as he slipped down, tail first through the hole</a> that -had broken, he had a glimpse of the little girl.</p> - -<p>The little girl saw Toto, too, and as soon as -she had seen him she clapped her red-mittened -hands again and cried:</p> - -<p>“Oh, it’s a little beaver! He knocked my -skate out to me! Oh, don’t go away, little -beaver!” cried Millie. “I won’t hurt you!”</p> - -<p>But of course Toto did not know that, and he -did not know what the little girl was saying. He -just wanted to get away from her, and back to his -own stick house. So he dived down under the -water, his fur being so thick and warm that he -was not a bit cold. And away he swam beneath -the ice that covered Winding River.</p> - -<p>“Oh, he’s gone!” cried Millie, when she saw<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> -the beaver disappear. “I wish I could have him -to take home! Maybe I’ll see him again! Anyhow, -he was nice to shove my skate out to me!”</p> - -<p>Millie sat down on the bank and began putting -on the skate that had slipped off, causing her to -fall. And, though she never guessed it, she was -to see Toto again, and the beaver was to see how -Millie and her grandmother were made happy.</p> - -<p>“Well, Toto, where have you been?” asked -his mother, when, some little time later, the beaver -boy swam up to the front door of the stick house. -“I’ve been looking all over for you!”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t mean to stay away so long, Mother,” -answered Toto, in beaver talk, of course. “But it -was so slippery on the ice that, when I got to -going, it was hard to stop. I tried to eat some -bark, but it was full of stickers, and then I had -an adventure.”</p> - -<p>“What’s an adventure?” asked Sniffy, who was -not quite so bold and daring as was Toto.</p> - -<p>“It’s something that happens to you,” Toto -answered.</p> - -<p>“And what happened to you?” asked Mr. -Beaver.</p> - -<p>Toto told them about Millie’s skate coming off, -though of course he did not call it a skate. He -said it was a “trap.”</p> - -<p>“You did well to hurry away,” said his father. -“It’s lucky for you that you fell through the hole<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -in the ice and could swim. Always, when you -are in danger, get in the water if you can. Very -few animals can swim as fast as we beavers swim. -The water is the place for us, even though we -have to go on land to gnaw down the trees for -the dams we make.”</p> - -<p>“Why do we have to make dams?” asked Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“To make the water deep enough for our houses -in places where it is otherwise too shallow,” answered -Mr. Beaver. “By putting a lot of trees, -sticks, clumps of grass, and mud across a stream -the water backs up, and gets deep behind the dam, -over which it flows, making a waterfall. We need -to build our houses behind the dam, so as to -have our doors under water. If we didn’t, other -animals from the land would come in and get us. -But land animals can not get into our houses as -long as the front doors are under water, though -it is easy for us to dive down and come up inside -where the water does not reach. Did anything -else happen to you, Toto?” asked his father.</p> - -<p>“Well, I swam home under the ice as fast as I -could,” answered the little beaver boy.</p> - -<p>“Did you see anything of Mr. Cuppy?” asked -Mrs. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t,” Toto answered. “Did some -one try to catch him in a trap, too?”</p> - -<p>“No. But he said he’d send you home if he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> -met you,” replied Mrs. Beaver. “Of course he -didn’t meet you. I’ll go out and tell him he -needn’t look for you any more, as you are now at -home.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and I’m hungry, too,” said Toto. “The -bark on the bush under which I hid was full of -thorns. I couldn’t eat it.”</p> - -<p>“Here is some nice aspen bark,” said Mr. -Beaver. “Let me see your teeth, Toto?”</p> - -<p>“What for?” the little beaver boy wanted to -know.</p> - -<p>“To see if they are going to be strong enough -to help us gnaw down trees this summer,” went -on Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>Toto opened his mouth. His teeth were strong -and white, that is all except the four front, or -gnawing teeth. Two of these in his upper jaw -and two in his lower jaw were a sort of red, or -orange, color. All beavers have orange-colored -gnawing teeth, and the rest are white, like yours.</p> - -<p>“Humph! Yes, I think you’ll be big enough -to help us gnaw down trees this summer,” said -Daddy Beaver, as he looked at Toto’s orange -teeth, which were almost as sharp and strong as -the chisels the carpenter uses to smooth wood with -which to build a house.</p> - -<p>“Is it very hard to gnaw trees down?” Toto -wanted to know.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span></p> - -<p>“It must be easy,” said Sniffy, who was eating -some aspen bark in the stick house. “See how -easy I can strip this bark off this piece of log.”</p> - -<p>“Gnawing bark is much easier than gnawing -through the wood of a big, hard tree,” said Mr. -Beaver. “You boys will learn that soon enough. -But here, Toto, try some of this bark.”</p> - -<p>So Toto and Sniffy gnawed the bark, and Toto -told his brother more about the little girl he had -seen. He thought she had tried to trap him, but -we know Millie had done nothing of the sort. -Only her skate had come off.</p> - -<p>“And what do you think!” the little girl said, -after she had reached home and was telling her -mother about it that night at supper. “My skate -slid right over the ice, under a bush, and a little -beaver that was there pushed it out to me.”</p> - -<p>“So the beavers are around here, are they?” -asked Millie’s father. “I wondered what made a -part of Winding River flow so slowly this fall. -The beavers must have dammed it up. Well, the -beavers are hard-working animals and do little -harm. We won’t disturb them.”</p> - -<p>The rest of that winter Toto lived in the stick -house with the other beavers. He did not go -out very often, for there is not much beavers can -do until the ice and snow are gone. Toto went -out on the frozen river a few times, however, but -he did not again see the little girl on skates. And -though Millie went out skating, she did not see -Toto until later in the season. I’ll tell you about -that after a while.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p023"> - <img src="images/i_p023.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_18">And he slipped down, tail first through the hole.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24-<br />25]</span></p> - -<p>Meanwhile the sun climbed higher and higher -in the sky. It warmed the earth, the snow and -ice melted, the banks of Winding River became -green, as the leaves came out on the trees and -bushes, and one day Mr. Beaver said:</p> - -<p>“Come with me, Toto and Sniffy. You are -going to learn how to gnaw down trees.”</p> - -<p>“Are we going to help build the dam bigger?” -asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s what you are,” his father said.</p> - -<p>He dived down in the water, to slip out of the -front door, and the two beaver boys followed -him. Their noses closed, and they kept their -mouths tightly shut while under water. But they -had their eyes open to see where to swim. They -came out on top of the water not far from their -own house. But almost as soon as they had poked -up their noses to take long breaths, Toto and -Sniffy heard a booming, whacking noise, and their -father cried:</p> - -<p>“Back! Back, boys! Dive down! There’s -danger!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III<br /> -<small>TOTO MEETS DON</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">You may well believe that Toto and Sniffy -did not lose any time diving down under -water as soon as they heard their father -tell them to do so. Many times before, when -they were first learning to swim, they had dived -down quickly like this just after they had poked -up their noses to get a breath of air. And always -their father or mother had swum with them -out of danger.</p> - -<p>“What was that whacking noise, Dad?” asked -Sniffy, when they were once more safely back in -their stick and mud house.</p> - -<p>“That was Mr. Cuppy banging his flat tail on -the water to let us know there was some danger,” -answered Mr. Beaver. “Cuppy, or some of the -older beavers, are always on guard at or near the -dam. If they hear, see or smell danger they -whack with their tails. And whenever you hear -that whacking sound you little fellows must dive -into the water and swim away just as fast as you -can.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, now I remember about Mr. Cuppy whacking<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -with his tail!” exclaimed Toto. “You told -us that last summer, didn’t you, Dad?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. But the winter has been long, and all -that time you have had no chance to hear Mr. -Cuppy bang his tail on the water, so I was afraid -you had forgotten,” said Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“I did forget,” answered Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“And I did, too,” said Toto. “But now I’m -always going to listen for Mr. Cuppy’s tail.”</p> - -<p>“And run and dive into the water as fast as -you can when you hear him whacking and banging,” -advised Mr. Beaver. “Now we’ll wait a -little while and then we’ll swim up again. The -danger may have passed.”</p> - -<p>Toto and his brother waited with their father -perhaps five minutes in the beaver house. Then, -once more, they dived down, out of the front -door, and up into the river, a little farther away. -Mr. Beaver went ahead, and poked up his nose -first to look about. He saw a number of beavers -working on the dam, among them Mr. Cuppy.</p> - -<p>“Is it all right?” called Mr. Beaver to the -old gentleman.</p> - -<p>“Yes, come along. We need lots of help to -make the dam bigger and stronger,” answered -Mr. Cuppy. “Where are your two boys?”</p> - -<p>“Right here,” answered their father. “It’s all -right! Bob up your heads!” he called to Toto -and Sniffy.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span></p> - -<p>Up they swam, and soon they were among -their friends on the dam, which was made of a -number of trees laid crosswise over the narrow -part of the river. Sticks had been piled back of -the trees, and mud, grass-hummocks, and leaves -were piled back of the sticks, so that very little -water could run through. Back of the dam the -water was quite deep, but in front it was very -shallow. The beavers all had their houses back -of the dam.</p> - -<p>“What was the danger?” asked Mr. Beaver -of Mr. Cuppy, as the two animal gentlemen -walked along on top of the dam. “Did you see -a bear or some other big animal?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Mr. Cuppy. “The reason I -whacked my tail was because I saw five or six -men over in the woods where the trees are that -we are going to cut down for our dam.”</p> - -<p>“Were they hunter men, with guns?” asked Mr. -Beaver.</p> - -<p>“No, they didn’t seem to be hunters,” answered -Mr. Cuppy. “They were rough-looking -men, and not dressed as nicely as most hunters -are. These men had old rusty cans in their hands—cans -like those we sometimes find in our river. -I thought they were coming over to our dam to -catch us, but they didn’t. However I gave the -danger signal.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s best to be on the safe side,” returned<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -Mr. Beaver. “Well, now we are here—my two -boys and myself—and we are ready to help gnaw -down trees for you. My wife will be here in a -little while. She has gone to see if she can find -some aspen bark for our dinner.”</p> - -<p>“My wife has gone to look for some, too,” -said Mr. Cuppy. “Well, now, let’s see! Have -Toto and Sniffy ever cut down any trees?”</p> - -<p>“No, this will be the first time for them,” said -their father.</p> - -<p>“Well, take them over to the little grove and -show them how to work,” advised Mr. Cuppy. -“We shall need many trees this spring. How are -you, boys? Ready to gnaw with your red teeth?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, sir,” answered Toto and Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Come along!” called their father, and into the -water they jumped from the top of the dam, to -swim to where the trees grew beside the river.</p> - -<p>Beavers always swim, if they can, to wherever -they want to go. They would much rather swim -than walk, as they can swim so much better and -faster. So, in a little while, Toto and Sniffy stood -with their father beside a tree which, near where -the tree trunk went into the ground, was as large -around as your head.</p> - -<p>“We will cut down this tree,” said Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“What! That big tree?” cried Toto. “We -can never gnaw that down, Dad! It will take a -year!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span></p> - -<p>“Nonsense!” laughed Mr. Beaver. “We can -gnaw down larger trees than this. Before you -boys are much older you’ll do it yourselves. But -now come on, let’s start. I’ll watch you and tell -you when you do things the wrong way. That’s -the way to learn.”</p> - -<p>“I guess I know how to gnaw a tree down!” -boasted Sniffy. “I’ve often watched Mr. Cuppy -do it.” This little beaver boy stood up on his -hind legs, using his tail as a sort of stool to sit -on, and he began cutting through the bark of the -tree, using his four, strong orange-colored front -teeth to gnaw with.</p> - -<p>“Here! Hold on! Wait a minute!” cried -Mr. Beaver to his son, while Toto, who was just -going to help his brother, wondered what was the -matter.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t this the tree you want gnawed down, -Dad?” asked Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s the one,” his father answered. -“But if you start to gnaw on that side first the -tree will fall right on top of those others, instead -of falling flat on the ground as we want it to. -You must begin to gnaw on the other side, Sniffy. -Then, as soon as you have nearly cut it through, -the tree will fall in this open place.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I didn’t know that,” said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Nor I,” added his brother.</p> - -<p>“Always look to see which way a tree is going<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -to fall,” advised Daddy Beaver, “and be careful -you are not under it when it falls. If you do as -I tell you then you will always be able to tell just -which way a tree will fall to make it easier to get -it to the dam.”</p> - -<p>Then Mr. Beaver told the boys how to do this—how -to start gnawing on the side of the tree -so that it would fall away from them. Lumbermen -know which way to make a tree fall, by -cutting or sawing it in a certain manner, and -beavers are almost as smart as are lumbermen.</p> - -<p>How they do it I can’t tell you, but it is true -that beavers can make a tree fall almost in the -exact spot they want it. Of course accidents will -happen now and then, and some beavers have -been caught under the trees they were gnawing -down. But generally they make no mistakes.</p> - -<p>“How are we going to get the tree to the dam -after we gnaw through the trunk?” asked Toto, -as he and Sniffy began cutting through the outer -bark with their strong, red teeth. “We can’t -carry it there.”</p> - -<p>“We could if we could bite it into short pieces, -as we bite and gnaw into short pieces the logs -we gnaw bark from in our house all winter,” -said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“We don’t want this tree cut up into little -pieces,” said Daddy Beaver. “It must be in one, -long length, to go on top of the dam.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span></p> - -<p>“We never can drag this tree to the dam after -we have gnawed it down!” sighed Toto. “It -will be too hard work!”</p> - -<p>“You won’t have to do that,” said his father -with a laugh. “We will make the water float the -tree to the dam for us.”</p> - -<p>“But there isn’t any water near here,” said -Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“No, but we can bring the water right here,” -went on Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“How?” Toto wanted to know, for he and his -brother were young beavers.</p> - -<p>“We can dig a canal through the ground, and -in that the water will come right up to where -we want it,” said Mr. Beaver. “We’ll dig out -the dirt right from under the tree, after we have -cut it down, and bring the canal to it. The canal -will fill with water. The tree, being wood, will -float in the water, and a lot of us beavers, getting -together, can swim along and push and pull the -tree through the canal right to the place where we -need it for the dam.”</p> - -<p>“Are we going to learn how to dig canals, too?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, building dams and canals and cutting -down trees are the three main things for a beaver -to know,” said his father. “But learn one thing -at a time. Just now you are to learn how to cut -down this tree. Now gnaw your best—each of -you!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span></p> - -<p>So Toto and Sniffy gnawed, taking turns, and -their father helped them when they were tired. -Soon a deep, white ridge was cut in the side of -the tree.</p> - -<p>“The tree is almost ready to fall now,” said -Mr. Beaver. “You boys may take a little rest, -and I’ll finish the gnawing. But I want you to -watch and see how I do it. Thus you will learn.”</p> - -<p>“May I go over there by the spring of water -and get some sweet bark?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll wait for you,” answered his father. -“I won’t finish cutting the tree down until you -come back.”</p> - -<p>“Bring me some bark,” begged Sniffy, as he -sat down on his broad, flat tail.</p> - -<p>“I will,” promised Toto.</p> - -<p>The little beaver boy waddled away, and soon -he was near an aspen tree. Beavers like the bark -from this tree better than almost any other. -Toto was gnawing away, stripping off some bark -for his brother, when, all at once, he heard a -rustling sound in the bushes, and a big animal -sprang out and stood in front of Toto.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear me! It’s a bear!” cried Toto.</p> - -<p>“No, I am not a bear,” answered the other -animal. “Don’t be afraid of me, little muskrat -boy. I won’t hurt you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not a muskrat! I’m a beaver!” said -Toto. “But who are you?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span></p> - -<p>“I am Don,” was the answer. “And I am a -dog. Once I was a runaway dog, but I am not -a runaway any longer. But what are you doing -here, beaver boy?”</p> - -<p>“Helping my father cut down a tree for the -dam,” Toto answered. “What are you doing, -Don?”</p> - -<p>“I am looking for a camp of tramps,” was the -answer, the dog and beaver speaking animal talk, -of course. “A dog friend of mine said there was -a camp of tramps in these woods, and I want to -see if I can find them,” went on Don.</p> - -<p>“What are tramps?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Ragged men with tin cans that they cook soup -in,” answered Don. “Have you seen any around -here?”</p> - -<p>“No, but Cuppy, the oldest beaver here, saw -some ragged men over in the woods,” began Toto. -“Maybe they are—”</p> - -<p>But before he could say any more he heard a -loud thumping sound, and Toto knew what that -meant.</p> - -<p>“Look out! There’s danger!” cried Toto.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV<br /> -<small>TOTO AND THE TRAMPS</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Toto, the bustling beaver, ran as fast as -he could and took shelter under a big -rock that made a place like a little cave -on the side of the hill.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked Don, the dog. -“Are you afraid because I told you about the -tramps?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no,” answered Toto. “But didn’t you -hear that thumping sound just now?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I heard it,” answered Don. “What was -it—somebody beating a carpet?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what a carpet is,” replied Toto. -“We don’t have any at our house. But, whatever -it is, it wasn’t that. The noise you heard -was one of my beaver friends thumping his tail -on the ground.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you mean wagging his tail!” barked Don. -“Well, I do that myself when I feel glad. I -guess one of your beaver friends must feel glad.”</p> - -<p>“No, it isn’t that,” went on Toto. “Whenever -any of the beavers thumps his tail on the ground -it means there’s danger around, and all of us who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -hear it run and hide. You’d better come under -this rock with me. Then you’ll be out of danger.”</p> - -<p>Once more the thumping sound echoed through -the woods.</p> - -<p>“Better come under here with me,” advised -Toto.</p> - -<p>“Well, I guess I will,” barked Don.</p> - -<p>No sooner was he under the big rock with Toto -than, all of a sudden, there was a loud crash, and -a great tree fell almost on the place in the woods -where Toto and Don had been standing talking.</p> - -<p>“My goodness!” barked Don, speaking as dogs -do. “It’s a good thing we were under this rock, -Toto, or else that tree would have fallen on us! -Did you know it was going to fall?”</p> - -<p>“Well, no, not exactly. My brother and I have -been practicing on gnawing a tree this morning, -but ours isn’t cut down yet. My father is going -to finish cutting it, and show Sniffy and me how it -is done. But he promised not to cut all the way -through until I got back. So I don’t believe it was -our tree that fell.”</p> - -<p>“Is it all right for us to come out now?” asked -Don. Though he was older than the beaver boy, -he felt that perhaps Toto knew more about the -woods—especially when tree-cutting was going -on.</p> - -<p>Toto sat up on his tail under the big rock and -listened with his little ears. He heard the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -beavers, which were all about, talking among -themselves, and he and Don heard some of them -say:</p> - -<p>“It’s all right now. Cuppy and Slump have -cut down the big tree for the dam. It has fallen, -and now it is safe for us to come out.”</p> - -<p>The dog and the little beaver came out from -under the overhanging rock, and Don noticed the -pieces of bark Toto had stripped off.</p> - -<p>“What are you going to do with them?” asked -Don. “Make a basket?”</p> - -<p>“A basket? I should say not!” exclaimed -Toto. “I’m going to eat some and take the rest -to my father and brother. They are farther -back in the woods, cutting down a tree. Don’t -you like bark?”</p> - -<p>“Bark? I should say not!” laughed Don in -a barking manner. “I like bones to gnaw, but -not bark, though I bark with my mouth. That -is a different kind, though. But I suppose it -wouldn’t do for all of us to eat the same things. -There wouldn’t be enough to go around. But -tell me: Do you always hear a thumping sound -whenever there is danger in the woods?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s one of the ways we beavers have -of talking to one another,” answered Toto. -“Whenever one of us is cutting a tree down, and -he sees that it is about to fall, he thumps on the -ground as hard as he can with his tail. You see<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -our tails are broad and flat, and they make quite a -thump.”</p> - -<p>Don turned and looked at Toto’s tail.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s quite different from mine,” said the -dog. “I sometimes thump my tail on the floor, -when my master gives me something good to eat -or pats me on the head. But my tail doesn’t -make much noise.”</p> - -<p>“Well, a beaver’s tail does,” explained Toto. -“So whenever any of us hear the thumping sound -we know there is danger, and we run away or -hide.”</p> - -<p>“I’m glad to know this,” said Don. “When -I’m in the woods, from now on, and hear that -thumping sound, I’ll look around for danger, and -I’ll hide if I can’t get out the way. Well, I’m -glad to have met you,” went on Don. “I don’t -suppose you have seen Blackie, have you?”</p> - -<p>“Who is Blackie?” asked the beaver boy. “Is -he another dog?”</p> - -<p>“No, she’s a cat!” explained Don, with a laugh. -“She’s quite a friend of mine. She has a story -all to herself in a book, and I have one, too. I -don’t suppose you were ever in a book, were you, -Toto?”</p> - -<p>“Did you say a <em>brook</em>?” asked the beaver boy. -“Of course I’ve been in a brook many a time. I -even built a little dam across a brook once—I -and my brother Sniffy.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span></p> - -<p>“Ho, I didn’t say <em>brook</em>—I said <em>book</em>,” cried -Don. “Of course I don’t know much about such -things myself, not being able to read. But a book -is something with funny marks in it, and boys -and girls like them very much.”</p> - -<p>“Are they good to eat?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Oh, no,” answered Don, laughing.</p> - -<p>“Then I don’t believe they can be very good!” -said Toto, “and I don’t care to be in a book.”</p> - -<p>But you see he is in one, whether he likes it -or not, and some day he may be glad of it.</p> - -<p>“Well, I must be going,” barked Don. “I -want to see if I can find that camp where the -tramps live. Tramps are no good. They come -around the house where I live, near Blackie, the -cat, and take our master’s things. If I see the -tramps I’m going to bark at them and try to drive -them away.”</p> - -<p>Then he trotted on through the woods, and -Toto, after eating a little more bark, gathered -some up in his paws, and, walking on his hind -legs, brought it to where his father and Sniffy -were waiting for him.</p> - -<p>“Here’s Toto,” said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Where have you been?” asked Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“Oh, getting some sweet bark,” answered Toto, -and he laid down on some clean moss the strips -he had pulled off. “I met a dog, too.”</p> - -<p>“A dog!” cried Mr. Beaver. “My goodness,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -I hope he isn’t chasing after you!” and he looked -through the trees as if afraid.</p> - -<p>“Oh, this was Don, a good dog,” explained -Toto. “He’s only looking for some tramps. He -won’t hurt any beavers.”</p> - -<p>“Well, if he’s a good dog, all right,” said the -beaver daddy. “But hunters’ dogs are bad—they’ll -chase and bite you. I suppose they don’t -know any better.”</p> - -<p>“Where were you when Cuppy whacked with -his tail just before the big tree fell?” asked Sniffy, -as he nibbled at some of the tender bark his -brother had brought.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Don and I hid under a big rock,” answered -Toto. “I told him the whacking sound meant -danger. He didn’t know it. And it’s a good -thing we hid when we did, for the tree would have -crushed us if we hadn’t been under the rock. Is -our tree ready to finish gnawing down, Daddy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Mr. Beaver. “You and -Sniffy may start now, and cut a little more. I’ll -tell you when to stop.”</p> - -<p>“But I thought you were going to finish, Dad,” -said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“He will, Sniffy, if he said so. But he’s letting -us help a little more first so we can learn faster!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p041"> - <img src="images/i_p041.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_42">Crash! Bang! went the big tree.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42-<br />43]</span></p> - -<p>So the beaver boys sat up on their tails again, -and gnawed at the big tree—the largest one they -had ever helped to cut down. They gnawed and -gnawed and gnawed with their orange-colored -front teeth, and then Mr. Beaver said:</p> - -<p>“That’s enough, boys. I’ll do the rest. But -you may whack on the ground with your tails to -warn the others out of the way.”</p> - -<p>So Toto and Sniffy, much delighted to do this, -found a smooth place near a big rock, and then -they went:</p> - -<p>“Whack! Whack! Whack!”</p> - -<p>“Danger! Danger!” cried a lot of other -beavers who were working near by. “A tree is -going to fall! Run, everybody! Danger!”</p> - -<p>“See!” exclaimed Toto to his brother. “We -can make the old beavers run out of the way just -as Cuppy made Don and me run.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you beaver boys are growing up,” said -Mr. Beaver, who had waited to see that his two -sons gave the danger signal properly. “You are -learning very well. Now here goes the tree.”</p> - -<p>He gave a few more bites, or gnaws, at the -place where the tree was almost cut through, and -then Mr. Beaver himself ran out of the way.</p> - -<p><a href="#i_p041">“Crash! Bang!” went the big tree</a> down in -the forest. It broke down several other smaller -trees, and finally was stretched out on the ground -near the waters of Winding River.</p> - -<p>“We helped do that!” said Toto to Sniffy, when -the woods were again silent.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you have learned how to cut down big<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -trees,” said their father. “You are no longer -playing beavers—you are working beavers. Now -we must dig the canal to float the tree nearer the -dam, as it is too heavy for us to roll or pull along, -and we do not want to cut it.”</p> - -<p>I will tell you, a little farther on, how the -beavers cut canals to float logs to the places where -they want to use them. Just now all I’ll say -about them is that it took some time to get the -tree Toto and Sniffy had helped cut to the place -where it was needed for the dam. The two -beaver boys and many others of the wonderful -animals were busy for a week or more.</p> - -<p>Then, one day, when the tree was in place, -Toto asked his mother if he might go off into the -woods and look for some more aspen bark, as -all that had been stored in the stick house had been -eaten.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you may go,” said Mrs. Beaver. “But -don’t go too far, nor stay too long.”</p> - -<p>“I won’t,” promised Toto. Then he waddled -off through the woods, after having swum across -the beaver pond, made by damming the river, and -soon he found himself under the green trees.</p> - -<p>“I wonder if I’ll meet Don, the nice dog, or -Whitie, the cat?” thought Toto. “Let me see, -was Whitie her name? No, it was Blackie. I -wonder if I’ll meet her, or that little girl who -scared me so that day on the ice?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span></p> - -<p>Toto looked off through the trees, but he saw -neither Don nor Blackie.</p> - -<p>Toto found a place where some aspen bark -grew on trees, and he gnawed off and ate as much -as he wanted. Then he walked on a little farther -and, pretty soon, he saw something in the woods -that looked like a big beaver house. It was a -heap of branches and limbs of trees, and over the -outside were big sheets and strips of rough bark.</p> - -<p>“But that can’t be a beaver house,” thought -Toto. “It isn’t near water, and no beavers would -build a house unless it had water near it. I wonder -what it is.”</p> - -<p>Toto sat up on his tail and looked at the queer -object. Then all at once he heard rough voices -speaking, and he saw some ragged men come out -of the pile of bark. One or two of them had -tin cans in their hands, and another was holding -a pan over a fire that blazed on a flat rock.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I know who they are!” said Toto to -himself. “These must be the tramps Don was -looking for. This is the tramp camp! I’ve -found the bad men. I wish I could find Don to -tell him!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V<br /> -<small>TOTO SEES SOMETHING QUEER</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Crouching down behind a green bush, -Toto, the bustling beaver, kept very -quiet and watched the tramps. He was -not at all bustling now, however. He was not -doing any work. Instead he was watching to see -if the tramps were going to do any work.</p> - -<p>But you know better what tramps are than did -Toto. Tramps, as a rule, are men who don’t like -to work. They are lazy, and wander about like -gypsies, living as best they can, putting up an old -shack or a bark cabin in the woods, as these tramps -had done, boiling soup or stewing something in a -tomato can over a fire in the woods. Those are -tramps.</p> - -<p>“I wish I could find Don to tell him,” thought -Toto. “These must be the very tramps for whom -he was looking.”</p> - -<p>But though the beaver boy peered around -among the trees he could not see Don. The dog -was not in that part of the woods just then.</p> - -<p>The tramps, however, were in plain sight. -Some were stretched out on the soft moss beneath<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -the trees. Others sat in the doorway of -the rough, bark house they had built, and still -others were cooking something over a fire.</p> - -<p>“What a lot of hard work they have to do to -get something to eat,” thought Toto. “They -have to make a fire, and fires are dangerous. I -don’t like them!”</p> - -<p>Well might Toto say that, for he had heard -his father and Cuppy tell of fires in the forest -that, in dry seasons, burned beaver dams and -beaver houses.</p> - -<p>“We never have to make a fire when we are -hungry,” thought Toto. “And we don’t have -to hunt for tin cans, to put in them our things -to eat. When I’m hungry all I have to do is to -gnaw a little bark from a tree, or eat some grass -or some lily roots from the pond. I wouldn’t -like to be a tramp. That would be dreadful. I’d -rather be a beaver.”</p> - -<p>So Toto watched the tramps. He saw them -make the fire bigger, and noticed many of the -ragged men holding over it tin cans which, later, -they ate from.</p> - -<p>Then, as the day was warm and sunny, all the -tramps stretched out under the trees and went to -sleep.</p> - -<p>“Now would be a good time for Don to come -along and scare them away,” thought Toto. “I -wish he would. It isn’t good to have a camp of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> -tramps so near our beaver dam. They may come -and try to catch some of us.”</p> - -<p>But Don, the dog, did not come, and after -watching the ragged men for a while Toto thought -he had better start back home. He stripped off -some bark to take to his mother, who liked it -very much, and then the bustling beaver waddled -along until he came to a stream of water. Into -this he jumped and swam the rest of the way, as -that was easier than walking, or “waddling” as -I call it, for Toto was rather fat, and he sort of -“wobbled” as he walked.</p> - -<p>“Well, did anything happen to you this time?” -asked Mrs. Beaver, when Toto reached home.</p> - -<p>“It didn’t exactly happen to me,” he said. -“But I saw the camp of tramps Don was looking -for.”</p> - -<p>“Tramps! In our woods!” exclaimed Mr. -Beaver, who came along just then. He was coming -home to supper, having been at work with -Cuppy and the others on the big dam. “Where -did you see the tramps, Toto?”</p> - -<p>The little beaver boy told his father, and that -evening after they had eaten all the beavers gathered -out on the big dam which held back the -waters of the pond. It was a sort of meeting, -and though it took place nearly every night, it -was not always as serious as was this one.</p> - -<p>On other nights the beavers gathered to talk<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> -to one another, the older ones looking to see that -the dam was all right, and the younger ones, like -Toto and Sniffy, playing about.</p> - -<p>But this evening there was very little playing. -After a few holes in the dam had been plastered -shut with mud, which the beavers carried in their -forepaws, and not on their tails, as many persons -think, Cuppy whacked his tail on the ground. -Every beaver grew silent on hearing that.</p> - -<p>“There is no special danger just now,” said -Cuppy, speaking to all the others. “I mean no -tree is going to fall, or anything like that. But -there is likely to be trouble. Toto, tell us about -the tramp camp you saw in the woods.”</p> - -<p>You may easily believe that Toto was quite -surprised at being called on to sit up and speak -before all the other beavers in the colony. But -he was a smart little chap, and he knew that each -one must help the others. So he told what he had -seen.</p> - -<p>“And now,” said Cuppy, “what is to be done? -We do not want these tramps around here. Some -of them may be hunters, and may try to catch us. -Others may tear out our dam, and that would be -very bad for us, as the water would all run out -of our pond and our houses would be of no use. -Now we must either drive these tramps away, or -else make our dam so big and strong that they -will not want to try to tear it apart.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span></p> - -<p>“How can we drive the tramps away?” asked -Toto’s father.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe we can,” answered Cuppy. -“If we were bears or wolves we might, but, being -beavers, we can’t very well do it. The next best -thing to do is to make our dam stronger. So to-morrow -morning we must all—young and old who -can gnaw trees—we must all cut down as many as -we can and build the dam bigger. In that way we -may be safe from the tramps. Now remember—everybody -come out to cut down trees in the -morning.”</p> - -<p>“We can cut trees now, can’t we, Dad?” asked -Toto of his father.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you and Sniffy must do your share,” replied -Mr. Beaver. “We must all help one another.”</p> - -<p>The woods around the dam were a busy place -next morning. All the beavers who were able -began cutting down trees. Later the trees would -be floated in canals to the big pond and made a -part of the wall that held back the waters.</p> - -<p>“Sniffy, do you want to come with me?” asked -Toto of his brother, when the two boys had, -together, cut down a pretty good-sized tree.</p> - -<p>“Where are you going?” asked Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Farther off into the woods,” answered Toto. -“I know where there is a nice, smooth, straight<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> -tree that we can cut down. It stands all by itself, -and when it falls it won’t lodge in among other -trees, so it will be easy to get out for the dam. -Come, and we’ll cut it down together.”</p> - -<p>“All right, I will,” said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>Now Toto did not tell his brother that the tree -he intended gnawing down was close to the camp -of the tramps. Toto thought if he told his -brother that, Sniffy might be afraid to go.</p> - -<p>“But we can keep hidden from the tramps,” -thought Toto, “and our teeth do not make much -noise when we gnaw. The tramps will not hear -us. Besides, I want to see if they are still there. -Maybe Don has barked at them and driven them -away.”</p> - -<p>But when Toto and Sniffy reached the place in -the woods where the tall tree grew, there was the -bark shack in the same place, and some of the -ragged men were still in and about it.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look!” exclaimed Sniffy, catching sight -of the tramps. “Who are the ragged men, Toto? -Are they hunters?”</p> - -<p>“No,” answered Toto. And then he told his -brother who the men were. “But don’t be -afraid,” went on Toto. “We’ll gnaw very -silently, and the tramps won’t know we are here. -These are the ragged men I told about at the -meeting. But don’t be afraid, Sniffy.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span></p> - -<p>“All right. I won’t be afraid if you’ll stay -with me,” said Sniffy. “Now which tree are we -going to cut, Toto?”</p> - -<p>The other beaver showed his brother the tree -he meant, and Sniffy said it was a fine one.</p> - -<p>“If we cut that down all by ourselves, it will -help make the dam much bigger,” he said. “But -we can’t cut it in one day, Toto.”</p> - -<p>“No, nor in two days,” answered the other. -“It may take us a week. But we can do it.”</p> - -<p>After that, each day, Toto and Sniffy slipped -off by themselves and went to the place near the -camp of the tramps. There the two beaver boys -gnawed and gnawed and gnawed away at the tree -they were cutting down. And they worked so -quietly that none of the tramps heard them.</p> - -<p>One day the big tall tree was almost cut -through.</p> - -<p>“We shall finish gnawing it down in about an -hour,” said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” agreed Toto, “it will soon fall.”</p> - -<p>“And shall we whack on the ground with our -tails to signal for danger?” Sniffy wanted to know.</p> - -<p>“We had better; yes,” agreed Toto. “We -can’t tell but what some of the other beavers may -be around here, though I haven’t seen any.”</p> - -<p>So the two boy animals gnawed and gnawed -some more, and soon the tree began to topple -slowly to one side.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span></p> - -<p>“There it goes!” cried Sniffy.</p> - -<p>“Yes, it’s going to fall,” agreed Toto. -“Whack with your tail as hard as you can! -Whack your tail!”</p> - -<p>Toto and Sniffy banged their flat tails on the -ground. It was the beavers’ signal for danger. -Then Toto and Sniffy ran and hid in a hollow place -under a big stump. But they could look out and -see the tree leaning over farther and farther as -it toppled to the earth.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Toto cried:</p> - -<p>“Look! The tree is going to fall right on the -place where the tramps live! It is going to fall -on their house and it will be smashed!”</p> - -<p>And so it was. The beaver boys had forgotten -about the shack of the tramps when they gnawed -at the tree. Now it was toppling over directly -on the bark cabin. Toto and his brother were -going to see something very queer happen.</p> - -<p>“Bang with your tail! Bang with your tail, -and give the danger signal to the tramps!” cried -Toto.</p> - -<p>And he and Sniffy whacked away as hard as they -could.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI<br /> -<small>TOTO AND THE BURGLARS</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Now, the tramps who had built the shack -of bark in the woods knew nothing about -beavers and their ways. The tramps -did not know that when a beaver whacks his tail -on the ground it means danger from a falling -tree, or from something else.</p> - -<p>But the tramps in the shack, toward which was -falling the tree Toto and Sniffy had gnawed down—these -tramps heard the queer whacking sounds, -and they knew they had never heard them before. -So some of them, who were not as lazy as the -others, ran out to see what it meant.</p> - -<p>One tramp looked up and saw the tall tree -swaying down toward the bark shelter. The -tramp did not know that two little beaver boys -had, all alone, gnawed down the big tree. But -the tramp could see it falling.</p> - -<p>“Come on! Get out! Everybody out of the -shack!” cried the tramp who saw the falling tree. -“Everybody out! The whole woods are falling -down on us!”</p> - -<p>Of course that wasn’t exactly so. It was only<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> -one tree that was falling, and the same one which -Toto and Sniffy had gnawed down. But the -tramp who called out was so excited he hardly -knew what he was saying.</p> - -<p>And as soon as the other tramps, some of whom -were sleeping in the bark shack, heard the calls, -they came running out, some rubbing their eyes, -for they were hardly awake. They had been -asleep in the daytime, too—the daytime when all -the beavers were busy.</p> - -<p>“Come on! Come on! Get out! Everybody -out!” yelled the tramp who had first caught -sight of the falling tree.</p> - -<p>As soon as the others knew what the danger -was, out they rushed also, and then they all stood -outside the shack and to one side and watched the -tree crash down.</p> - -<p><a href="#i_frontis">Right on top of the bark cabin crashed the tree.</a> -There was a splintering of wood, a breaking of -branches, a big noise, and then it was all over.</p> - -<p>For a few minutes the tramps said nothing. -They all stood looking at the fallen tree that had -crushed their home in the woods.</p> - -<p>“Well!” exclaimed several of the men.</p> - -<p>“It’s a good thing we got out in time,” growled -one tramp.</p> - -<p>“I should say so!” exclaimed another. “Lucky -you saw it coming,” he added to the tramp who -had called the warning.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span></p> - -<p>“Did some one chop the tree down?” asked a -third tramp.</p> - -<p>“No, I guess the wind blew it,” said a fourth.</p> - -<p>“There isn’t enough wind to blow a tree down,” -decided the first tramp, who had red hair.</p> - -<p>Of course we know it wasn’t the wind that blew -the tree down. It was Toto and Sniffy who -gnawed it and made it fall. But the tramps were -too lazy to go and see what had caused the tree -to topple over. They just stood there and looked -at their crushed house.</p> - -<p>“It will be a lot of work to build that up again,” -said one tramp. “She’s smashed flat.”</p> - -<p>“Build it up again! I’m not going to help build -it up!” said another. “It’s too hard. I’m tired -of this place, anyhow. Let’s move off to another -woods. Maybe we can find a place near a chicken -yard, and we can have all the chickens we want. -Let’s move away, now that our house is smashed.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, let’s do that!” cried some of the other -tramps.</p> - -<p>And those ragged men were so lazy that they -did not want to go to the trouble of building a -home for themselves! Perhaps they thought they -could go off into the woods and find another already -built. Anyhow, they stood around a little -while longer. One or two of them picked up -ragged coats and hats that were in the ruins of -the hut, and some took old cans in which they<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> -heated soup. That was all they had to move.</p> - -<p>“Well, come on! Let’s hike along!” said the -red-haired tramp.</p> - -<p>With hardly a look back at what had been a -home for some of them for a long time, the tramps -walked away through the woods. Toto and -Sniffy, hiding in the bushes, watched the ragged -men go.</p> - -<p>“Look what we did!” said Sniffy to his brother.</p> - -<p>“Yes, we cut down a tree, but we didn’t mean -to make it fall on the house where the tramps -lived,” said Toto.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow, they’re going away, and that’s a good -thing for us,” went on Sniffy. “Now we won’t -have to make the dam so strong, nor move away -ourselves.”</p> - -<p>“That’s so,” agreed Toto. “I didn’t think -about that. Why, Sniffy, we really drove the -tramps away, didn’t we?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered his brother, “we did.”</p> - -<p>“Don, the dog, will be glad to know this,” went -on Toto. “I guess he’ll wish he had helped drive -the tramps away himself. Come on! let’s go back -and tell Dad and Mr. Cuppy about cutting down -the tree and smashing the tramps’ cabin.”</p> - -<p>Mr. Beaver, Cuppy, and all the others in the -colony were much surprised when Toto and Sniffy -told what had happened. Almost all the grown -animals, and certainly every one of the boys and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -girls, went out to see the fallen tree and the -smashed cabin.</p> - -<p>“Well, you did a lot to help us,” said Cuppy -to the two brothers; “but we can’t use that tree -in the dam.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Because it fell the wrong way. It would be -too much work to dig a canal to it and float it to -the dam. It will be easier to cut down another -tree. But I don’t know that we shall need any -more as long as the tramps have moved away. -We need not make our dam any bigger now.”</p> - -<p>“Are all the tramps gone?” asked Toto’s -mother.</p> - -<p>“Yes, every one,” answered Cuppy. He was -a wise old beaver, and he knew none of the ragged -men were left near what had once been their shack -of bark.</p> - -<p>So that was another adventure Toto had—driving -away the tramps. And if I had told you, -at first, that two little beavers, not much bigger -than small puppy dogs, could make a number of -big, lazy men move, you would hardly have believed -me. But it only goes to show in what a -strange way things happen in the woods.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p059"> - <img src="images/i_p059.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_60">Everybody in the beaver colony had work to do.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60-<br />61]</span></p> - -<p>Now that it was not needful to make the dam -bigger, the beavers turned to other work. Some -of the canals they had dug had become filled up -at a time when there was too much rain and the -banks had caved in. Some of the beavers began -to clear out these canals. Others mended holes -in the dam, and still others cut down, and brought -to the pond, tender branches of trees on which -grew soft bark for the small beaver children to -eat.</p> - -<p><a href="#i_p059">Everybody in the beaver colony had work to -do.</a> There was not a lazy one among them, and -Toto and Sniffy worked as hard as any. They -had time to play, too, and I’ll tell you about that -in another chapter or two. Just now I want to -speak about another wonderful adventure that -happened to Toto.</p> - -<p>The little beaver boy was growing larger now. -He was quite strong for his size, and he was growing -wiser every day. Often he went off in the -woods alone to hunt for tender bark, or perhaps -for some berries he liked to eat.</p> - -<p>One day Toto was walking along near a canal -he had helped to dig. He was thinking of Don, -and wishing he might meet the nice dog again, -and tell him about the tramps being driven away. -And Toto was also thinking of the little girl with -the red mittens, whose skate had come off on the -ice.</p> - -<p>Then, as Toto stepped from the woods into a -little clearing, or place where no trees grew, he -saw something big—bigger than a thousand -beaver houses made into one.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span></p> - -<p>“I wonder what that is?” thought Toto. “It -looks something like the shack the tramps had in -the woods, but it is much nicer. I wonder if it -is a house?”</p> - -<p>And then as Toto, hidden behind a bush, -watched, he saw a little girl and an old lady come -out of the house (for such it was) and walk away -through the woods on a path.</p> - -<p>“Why! Why!” exclaimed Toto to himself. -“That’s the same little girl I saw on the ice! -Only she’s different now. She hasn’t any red -things on her paws.”</p> - -<p>Of course, Toto thought the little girl’s hands -were her paws. And the “red things” were her -mittens. But, as it was summer now, she did not -wear mittens. It really was the little girl who -had been skating that Toto now saw come out of -the house in the woods. The little girl had come -to get her grandmother and take her for a visit -to the little girl’s house.</p> - -<p>Toto stayed hiding under the bush until the -little girl and her grandmother were out of sight. -Then, just as he was about to travel on, he heard -some voices coming from behind a big stump. -And, somehow or other, Toto seemed to know -those voices. Carefully he looked up over the -top of the bush.</p> - -<p>“Now’s our chance!” said one of the voices, -though of course Toto did not know what the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -words meant. “Now’s our chance! The old -lady and the little girl have gone out! Now we -can break into the house and take whatever we -want!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, we might as well be burglars while we’re -at it,” said another voice. “We can’t get any -work, so we’ll take things that other people work -for!”</p> - -<p>And then, to the surprise of Toto, he saw, -bobbing up from behind the stump, some of the -very same ragged tramps that had gone away -when the tree smashed their shack. They were -now near the home of Millie’s grandmother.</p> - -<p>“I heard there was some jewelry in that house,” -said the red-haired tramp. “We can take it and -sell it and then we can buy good things to eat.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” said a black-haired one. -“We’ll break in and get the jewelry. Nobody -is at home to stop us.”</p> - -<p>And then and there, as Toto watched, the bad -tramps went toward the house to take the little -girl’s grandmother’s jewelry.</p> - -<p>“Oh, if Don were only here now!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII<br /> -<small>TOTO AND THE BOY</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Toto, being only a beaver, did not know -very much about the different things -that men do. Toto knew how to gnaw -down trees, how to strip off bark when he was -hungry, how to dig canals for the water to run in -and float logs for the dam, and he knew how to -help make dams. But he never thought of going -into another beaver’s house and taking the bark -which that beaver had stored away.</p> - -<p>And now these men were going into the house -of the little girl’s grandmother, and they were -going after jewelry which had been hidden by the -old lady when she went away on a little visit with -her granddaughter. But Toto knew nothing of -this. All he knew was that he was hiding behind -a bush, watching the tramps steal softly toward -the lonely house.</p> - -<p>One of the tramps, the red-haired one, broke -open the door of the grandmother’s house. It -was just the same as if Sniffy and Toto should -break into the house of Mr. Cuppy, when that -kind old gentleman beaver was out working on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> -the dam. Into the house went the tramps—four -of them, big, ragged men.</p> - -<p>“I hope they don’t see me,” thought Toto, for -he knew it was dangerous to be where he was. -His father and mother had told him to keep away -from men who had traps and guns. And though -these tramps were too lazy to do any hunting or -shooting, Toto did not know that.</p> - -<p>Really he ought not to have been so far away -from home, but you know how it is with boys—even -animal boys. Beavers sometimes don’t do -the right thing, any more than real boys do. So, -though he felt that there was danger, Toto wanted -to stay near and watch.</p> - -<p>He saw the tramps break into the house, but of -course he did not see what they did when they -got inside, so I shall have to tell you that part of -the story myself.</p> - -<p>The tramps easily broke open the door and got -inside. The first thing they did was to look for -something to eat, for, being lazy men, they did -not work, and all the food they had was what they -stole or begged. And as Millie’s grandmother -was a good cook, there was plenty in her house -to eat. The tramps had a fine meal, and they -then looked about for something to take away -with them.</p> - -<p>Millie’s grandmother was not rich, but she had -some gold and silver jewelry put away in a box<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> -in her home. Some of the rings and pins were -those Millie’s grandmother had had since she was -a little girl herself, and there was one pretty -bracelet that Mrs. Norman (which was the grandmother’s -name), had promised to give Millie.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Norman had hidden her box of jewelry -under the bed when she went out, thinking that -would be a safe place. But, would you believe -it? That was one of the first places the tramps -looked when they finished their meal.</p> - -<p>“Ho! Ho!” laughed the tramps. “Here it -is!”</p> - -<p>With their coarse, rough hands they broke open -the box, for the lock was not strong. Inside -glittered the gold and silver jewelry of Mrs. Norman, -and the sun sparkled on the pretty bracelet -that was to be Millie’s.</p> - -<p>“Ho! Ho!” laughed the tramps. “This will -bring us money when we sell it!”</p> - -<p>The tramps were looking at the jewelry in the -box when, all at once, the red-haired one cried:</p> - -<p>“Hark! I hear some one coming! We’d better -run!”</p> - -<p>“Come on!” exclaimed another.</p> - -<p>So the next thing Toto, the watching beaver, -saw was tramps come rushing from the house. -Toto did not know what the tramps had done in -the house, but he saw them come rushing out, the -red-haired one carrying a small box. Of course<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -Toto did not know what was in the box. Beavers -have no use for jewelry.</p> - -<p>“Come on!” cried the red-haired tramp. -“Come on! Maybe the police are after us!”</p> - -<p>And so the tramps ran across the fields towards -the woods where they had built themselves another -shack. And these woods were not far from those -where Toto and the other beavers lived, near the -dam.</p> - -<p>Now the noise which had scared the tramps was -made by a boy knocking at the side door of the -house where Millie’s grandmother lived. This -boy, whose name was Bobbie Thompson, had been -sent by his mother to borrow a cup of sugar from -Mrs. Norman. Bobbie’s mother lived almost -half a mile from Millie’s grandmother, and as -there were very few stores in that part of the -country the neighbors used to borrow things from -one another. So Bobbie’s mother had sent him -to borrow some sugar.</p> - -<p>Bobbie did not know that Millie and her grandmother -had gone out, and he did not know that -tramps were in the house, when he knocked at -the side door. And it was his knocking that had -scared the ragged men.</p> - -<p>Out of the front door of the house they rushed, -and, as they hurried away, Bobbie, who was a -sturdy little chap, saw them go.</p> - -<p>“Hello there! What’s this?” cried Bobbie,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> -who was very much surprised. “What’s this?”</p> - -<p>Then, as he saw what kind of men they were -and that one of them had the box of jewelry under -his arm, Bobbie understood.</p> - -<p>“Tramps! Tramps!” cried Bobbie. “I wish I -had my dog with me now! Those tramps have -been robbing Mrs. Norman!”</p> - -<p>Bobbie stood on the side steps a few seconds, -watching the tramps run across the field. Then, -being a brave boy, he decided to run after them. -I don’t believe Bobbie really thought he could -catch the tramps, nor that he hoped he could get -the box of jewelry away from them if he did catch -them. He just wanted to see where they went, -so he could tell the police.</p> - -<p>“Hi there! Come back with that box!” called -Bobbie, and then he began to run. Off the steps -he jumped, dropping the cup which he had come -to get filled with sugar. He had forgotten all -about that now.</p> - -<p>After the tramps he ran, shouting and calling -to them, and the queer part of it was that the -tramps did not look back to see who was after -them. They were too frightened, as they knew -they had done wrong and could be arrested for it.</p> - -<p>“Are the police after us?” asked one tramp.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I guess so,” answered the red-haired one -who had the jewel box. “We’d better hide this -stuff, too! If they catch us with it we’ll have to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> -go to jail. We’ll hide it as soon as we get to the -woods!”</p> - -<p>And so the tramps ran on, never once looking -back. If they had looked back they would have -seen it was only a small boy chasing them, and not -two or three policemen. But that is often the -way with persons who do wrong. Their own -fears scare them.</p> - -<p>“Hi there! Hold on! Stop!” cried Bobbie. -But the tramps did not stop. They only ran the -faster toward the woods. And, finally reaching -the forest, the red-haired tramp looked around for -a place to hide the box of jewelry.</p> - -<p>“I’ll put it in this hollow tree!” he said to the -other tramps, as, reaching a big chestnut tree, -he saw a hole in the trunk. “I’ll hide the jewelry -here and, when the police go, we can come back -and get it out again.”</p> - -<p>So he thrust the box of gold and silver jewelry, -with Millie’s bracelet in it, into the hollow of the -tree. Then the tramps ran on through the woods, -and scattered, some going one way and some another, -still thinking the police were after them.</p> - -<p>But it was only Bobbie, and the little boy, seeing -that the tramps were fast running away from -him, soon gave up the chase.</p> - -<p>“I guess I’ll go back to Millie’s grandmother’s -house,” said Bobbie to himself. “Maybe she’s -come back. If she has I’ll get the sugar and tell<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> -her about the tramps. If she isn’t at home I’ll -go and tell my mother.”</p> - -<p>Now all this time Toto was wondering what -it all meant. He had seen the bad, ragged -tramps break into the house, and he had seen -them rush out, and Bobbie chasing after them. -But the beaver did not know what it was all about. -However, being very curious, as are most wild -animals, Toto wanted to find out. So when -Bobbie began to run Toto slowly followed after, -taking care, however, to keep in the shadow of -the bushes and trees.</p> - -<p>Thus it happened that when Bobbie turned -back, after he had lost sight of the tramps in the -woods, he saw Toto ambling along.</p> - -<p>“Hello! A beaver!” cried Bobbie. “I haven’t -seen one of them for a long while! I’m going -to get him! I’ll take him home for a pet!”</p> - -<p>And then, running as fast as he could, Bobbie -chased after Toto, wishing to catch our little -friend with the broad, flat tail.</p> - -<p>“My goodness!” thought Toto as he saw -Bobbie coming. “I’d better run!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII<br /> -<small>TOTO MEETS BLACKIE</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">By this time Bobbie had forgotten all about -the tramps who took the jewelry. He -was thinking only of catching Toto.</p> - -<p>“Oh ho! You’re a fine, fat one!” laughed -Bobbie. “I’d like you for a pet!”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to get away as fast as I can!” thought -Toto. “I wish I had not come so far from the -dam and the water back of it. If I could find -some deep water now I’d dive into it and this boy -chap couldn’t find me. I’d stay under a long -time.”</p> - -<p>But, just then, Toto could see no water near -him, though he remembered he had swum in a -brook almost up to the house into which the -tramps had broken to get food and the box of -jewelry.</p> - -<p>“If I could only find that brook now!” thought -poor Toto.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get you! I’ll get you!” cried the boy. -Of course Toto did not know what these words -meant any more than the boy could understand -beaver talk. But Toto knew he was in danger,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -and the boy knew the little animal, with the flat -tail, was trying to get away.</p> - -<p>Now Toto could smell water even when he -could not see it. His nose was very good for -smelling, and, as he ran along—or rather “waddled,” -as I call it—he kept sniffing to see if he -could not smell water somewhere. And at last -he did. Off to his left he caught the smell he -so much wanted, and he turned sharply to one -side.</p> - -<p>“I wonder where he’s going now,” said the boy, -aloud. “Maybe he has a nest over there. No, -beavers don’t live in nests, so Jake told me. They -have their houses in the water near a dam. I -wish I could find a beaver dam. Then I could -get two beavers for pets.”</p> - -<p>Bobbie did not know how hard it was to capture -beavers once those busy animals are in the -water.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get him! I’ll get that beaver!” cried the -boy.</p> - -<p>“If I can only get to the water I’ll be all right!” -thought poor Toto, whose heart was beating very -fast, both in fear and because he had to hurry -along so quickly.</p> - -<p>Just as the beaver reached the edge of the -little stream Bobbie got there too, and made a -grab for Toto. So close was Bobbie to Toto -that the boy could almost touch the flat tail of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> -our friend. But Toto gave a jump, and into the -water he landed, making a great splash. Down, -down toward the bottom dived Toto, and at once -he began to swim under water, for beavers can -do that, just as muskrats can. Of course they -are not like a fish, who has to stay under water -all the while, and can not breathe in the open air. -Beavers, and animals like that, can hold their -breath a long while under water, and so can stay -hidden and out of sight.</p> - -<p>“Oh, there he goes!” cried Bobbie, much disappointed -as he saw Toto dive into the stream. -“But maybe I can get him!”</p> - -<p>The boy ran along the bank of the stream, -but Toto knew better than even to stick out so -much as the tip of his nose. The beaver did -not need to do this. He could swim under water -for quite a long time, and that’s what he was -doing now. His hind feet were webbed, like -those of a duck, and his broad, flat tail helped -him, too. It was like the propeller of a boat. -In a half minute he was far enough away from -Bobbie to be safe, and, though the boy ran along -the stream for several minutes, he did not again -see Toto—that is not for some days. Toto had -got safely away, and, half an hour later, he was -back at the dam, where he found his father and his -mother and Sniffy waiting for him.</p> - -<p>“Where have you been?” asked Mr. Beaver.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> -“You were gone so long that I thought something -had happened.”</p> - -<p>“Something did happen,” answered Toto. “A -boy chased me, and I saw the ragged men—the -tramps as Don, the dog, called them!”</p> - -<p>“My goodness!” exclaimed Mrs. Beaver. -“Chased by a boy! Did he catch you?”</p> - -<p>“No, I got away just in time,” answered Toto.</p> - -<p>“I hope those tramps aren’t coming to our -woods again,” said Mr. Beaver.</p> - -<p>“Well, they ran in among the trees,” said Toto, -“and they stopped at a hollow one, put something -in there, and then they ran on.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe they hid a lot of bark in the hollow -tree,” said Sniffy. For a beaver, you know, bark -is the best thing there is in the world. It is -better to him than jewelry ever could be.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what it was they hid,” said Toto. -“But the boy chased them and then he chased -me.”</p> - -<p>“You must always be careful,” warned his -father. “These woods are too often visited by -hunter men and boys these days. Watch out for -traps.”</p> - -<p>Toto and Sniffy said they would, and then the -beaver boys went out on a little hill, near the pond -back of the dam, to have some fun. And the fun -they had was sliding downhill!</p> - -<p>I suppose it may sound odd to you to be told<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -that beavers slide downhill, but they really do, -and other wild animals in the woods do the same -thing. They don’t wait for snow and ice to cover -the hill, either, as you boys and girls do. In fact, -most animals do not like snow and ice—unless perhaps -it is polar bears—and when winter comes -many animals take a long sleep until warm -weather comes again.</p> - -<p>Of course Toto and the other beavers have to -stand the cold, and perhaps be out in the ice and -snow, and that is why they have such a thick, -warm coat of fur.</p> - -<p>But the sliding downhill fun I am going to tell -you about took place in the summer, and I suppose -you are wondering how any one can slide downhill -when there is no snow or ice.</p> - -<p>Well, the beavers slide down on mud. You -know how slippery mud is when it is wet. And -there is a kind of mud, called “clay,” which is very -slippery indeed. If you have ever been near a -brickyard, and have seen the clay dug out and -wet, you know how slippery it is. It is even more -slippery than snow or ice.</p> - -<p>Now near the beaver pond was a hill of clay, -and some of it had been taken by Cuppy and the -older animals to plaster up holes in the dam. -This digging out of the clay, made a bare place -on the hill, where the grass was torn away, leaving -the soil exposed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span></p> - -<p>This clay slide was where Toto, Sniffy and the -other beavers had their fun. And not only the -young beavers, but the old ones as well, even -Cuppy, took their turns going down the slide. -Otters also make slippery slides to coast down, -and I have even heard that big bears, when they -can find a place, like to slide downhill.</p> - -<p>The animals do this not only for fun, but to -keep their muscles and legs limber and strong. -It is their exercise, just as you raise your arms -and bend your bodies in school when you take -your exercise.</p> - -<p>Now to be slippery, clay has to be wet. And, -as it would not do to wait for a rain to come to -wet the slide, the beavers, otters, and other animals -wet the slides themselves. They go into -the water at the foot of the slide, get themselves -soaking wet, climb out and go to the top of the -hill. There they sit down and the water, dripping -from their bodies, makes the hill slippery. Down -they go, splashing into the stream or the pond at -the foot. Almost all the slides end in water.</p> - -<p>“Come on out and slide down!” called Toto to -Sniffy, and away they ran. They climbed up the -hill at a place where it was not slippery and, taking -turns, sat down at the top of the slide. Then, -giving themselves a little push with their paws, -as you give yourself a push with your feet when -you sit on your sled, down they went.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span></p> - -<p>Sometimes the beavers slid down on their tails, -and sometimes on their backs. Some even slid -down on their stomachs, or went down sideways. -Down they went, any way to get a slide, and into -the water they splashed.</p> - -<p>“Hi there! Look out!” cried Toto to Dumple, -a little fat beaver boy who lived in the stick house -next to him. “Look out! I’m coming!”</p> - -<p>But Dumple did not get out of the way quickly -enough, and when Toto slid down he bumped right -into him, and the beaver chaps went down the -slide together and into the water with a splash.</p> - -<p>“Ho! Ho! That was fun! Let’s do it -again,” cried Dumple.</p> - -<p>“All right!” agreed Toto. “But did I hurt -you?”</p> - -<p>“Not a bit!” laughed Dumple. “Come on, -Sniffy! Let’s bump into one another on the -slide!” he called.</p> - -<p>So Toto’s brother joined the fun, and many -other beavers played on the slide, climbing up -and coasting down.</p> - -<p>When supper time came Toto and the others -had very good appetites for the bark which was -waiting for them. Darkness came, and the -beavers went to sleep. The night settled down -on the beaver pond and dam. As Toto went to -sleep perhaps he thought of the adventures of -that day—how he had seen the boy chase the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> -tramps, and how the ragged men had hidden something -in the hollow tree. But Toto did not think -much about that. He was too tired and sleepy -after playing on the mud slide.</p> - -<p>It was two or three days after this that, as -our beaver friend was walking through the -woods, looking for some soft bark for his mother, -he heard a funny little noise up in a tree. The -noise went:</p> - -<p>“Mew! Mew! Meaouw!”</p> - -<p>“Hello! what’s that?” called Toto, looking -here and there. “Is anything the matter?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“I should say there was!” came the answer. -“A bad dog chased me up this tree and now I’m -afraid to come down.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“I am Blackie, and once I was a lost cat,” was -the answer. “I guess I’m pretty nearly lost now. -Oh, dear! what shall I do?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p079"> - <img src="images/i_p079.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_82">“I’ll help you down out of the tree,” said Toto cheerfully.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX<br /> -<small>TOTO IN A TRAP</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Toto looked up in the tree from which -the mewing noise came. There he saw -a black cat. The cat sat in a place where -a branch joined the main trunk of the tree, and -Toto wondered why, if she got up there, she could -not get down.</p> - -<p>“What happened to you?” asked the beaver -boy.</p> - -<p>“A dog chased me,” was the answer. “I was -out walking in the fields, and a dog ran along -after me. I was so frightened that I scampered -as fast as I could. Then I ran up this tree. I -hardly knew what I was doing, or how I got up -so high. But here I am, and though it seemed -easy to get up, I’m afraid to try to get down. I -might slip and fall.”</p> - -<p>“Did you walk up the tree?” asked Toto, wondering -why she couldn’t walk down again.</p> - -<p>“No, I stuck my claws into the bark and pulled -myself up,” answered the black cat. “But it’s -harder to go down. I don’t know what to do! -I wish that dog had let me alone.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span></p> - -<p>“Was the dog who chased you named Don?” -asked Toto. “I know him.”</p> - -<p>“Do you? Why, so do I!” exclaimed Blackie. -“No, it wasn’t Don who chased me. He and I -are good friends. This was a strange dog, and -I don’t like him. He has made a lot of trouble -for me. Maybe I’ll never get out of this tree, -and I’ll never again see the kind lady and little -girl I live with.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, you will!” <a href="#i_p079">said Toto cheerfully. -“I’ll help you get down out of the tree.”</a></p> - -<p>“Can you climb up here?” asked Blackie.</p> - -<p>“No, I can’t climb trees, but I can gnaw them -down,” answered the beaver boy. “You just -wait. This is a poplar tree, and the bark is very -good to eat. You just wait up there. I’ll gnaw -through the tree, it will fall, and you can then -easily get to the ground.”</p> - -<p>“But when the tree falls won’t I get hurt?” -asked Blackie.</p> - -<p>“No, for I’ll cut the tree so it will fall in among -the bushes,” answered Toto, who, by this time, -could make a tree fall in any direction he liked. -“The bushes will be a sort of cushion, like the -cushion of soft grass and chips in our stick house.”</p> - -<p>Toto took his position at the foot of the tree, -half way up in which was Blackie, the cat. -Propping himself up on his tail, and clasping his -forepaws around the trunk of the tree, which was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -about as large around as a rolling pin, Toto began -to gnaw.</p> - -<p>In a few minutes Toto had almost cut through -the trunk.</p> - -<p>“Oh, the tree is beginning to fall!” mewed -Blackie.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I want it to do,” answered Toto. -“Don’t be afraid. Sit tight! You will not be -hurt.”</p> - -<p>The tree was swaying slightly, for the trunk -had almost been cut through by the hard-working -beaver boy. But he had cut it in the proper way, -and it was falling toward a clump of thick bushes.</p> - -<p>Blackie dug her claws into the soft bark and -held on as tightly as she could. She was a little -afraid, but she need not have been, for Toto knew -what he was about. Very slowly and gently the -tree swayed over. It fell among the bushes with -hardly a crash, the boughs and the underbrush -making a cushion. And now the trunk was so -close to the ground that Blackie easily leaped -down.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you, very much, for helping me,” -she mewed to Toto. “I thought I’d never get -down, or see my kind lady mistress again. She -is very sad these days, and if she lost me she -would be more sad.”</p> - -<p>“What is she sad about?” asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Because her house was broken into the other<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> -day by some bad men, she thinks,” explained -Blackie. “They took away a box of jewelry she -had hidden under the bed. And in the box was -a bracelet for a nice little girl. This little girl -pets me and gives me milk when she comes to -see her grandmother, with whom I now live. -And sometimes I go to stay at the little girl’s -house.”</p> - -<p>“Why, how surprising!” exclaimed Toto. “I -think I know the house you mean! I saw some -ragged men go in there and come out with a box. -A boy chased them and then the boy chased me.”</p> - -<p>“What did the men do with the box?” asked -Blackie. “Oh, how exciting! Maybe we can -find it and make my mistress happy again.”</p> - -<p>Toto slowly flapped his flat tail.</p> - -<p>“The men went into the woods with the box,” -he said. “That is all I know.”</p> - -<p>“What woods?” asked Blackie.</p> - -<p>“Well, the woods not very far from here,” -answered the beaver.</p> - -<p>“I wish I could find the box,” mewed Blackie. -“I don’t care for jewelry myself, though I like -a red ribbon tied on my neck, as the little girl -sometimes ties it. But if I could find the box of -jewelry it would make Millie and her grandmother -happy.”</p> - -<p>“I wish I could help you,” said Toto. “But I -don’t know where the box is. But tell me about<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> -Don. Have you seen him lately? He wanted -to catch the tramps.”</p> - -<p>“No, I haven’t seen Don for some time,” explained -Blackie. “He lives in another house with -a boy, and sometimes this boy comes to see Millie’s -grandmother. The old lady is his grandmother, -too. Don and I are good friends.”</p> - -<p>“He is a nice dog,” said Toto. “Well, as long -as I have cut down this tree I may as well eat -some of the bark. Will you have some?”</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” answered Blackie. “I don’t -eat bark, I drink milk.”</p> - -<p>“Bark is better,” said the beaver. “But I suppose -it wouldn’t do for us all to eat the same -thing. There wouldn’t be enough. Now, do -you know your way home?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes, I can find my way back across the -fields to the house where I live,” said the cat. -“I hope the tramps don’t come again. But call -and see me sometime.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you,” answered Toto. “I will. But I -don’t go out in the fields much. It is safer for -us beavers in the woods near the water.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like water,” said the black cat. “But -thank you once more for getting me down out -of the tree. I’ll tell Don, the next time I see -him, how kind you are to me.”</p> - -<p>“Remember me to him,” begged Toto.</p> - -<p>“I will!” mewed Blackie. Then she walked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> -off toward the field, and Toto began to eat some -of the poplar bark.</p> - -<p>You remember I told you I would put in this -story something about how beavers dig canals to -float the logs they cut down to the dam. And I -guess this is a good place for that.</p> - -<p>With their paws the beavers dig a ditch in the -dirt, starting it from the place where the fallen -tree lies, and heading it toward the waters of -their pond. The beavers are fast diggers, too, -almost as fast as they are gnawers, and many of -them, working together, will dig a little canal in -a few days. They take out the dirt and stones, -placing them to one side. They carry the dirt and -stones out of their way in their front paws.</p> - -<p>Foot by foot the canal, which is yet only a dry -ditch in the ground, is brought to the edge of the -beaver pond. Then the little animals cut through -the remaining wall of earth, so the water from -the pond flows into the canal. The water goes -all the way back to where the big tree trunk lies -on the bank of the little canal. The beavers -now, pushing all together, roll the heavy log into -the canal which, after this, can easily be floated -through the canal to the beaver pond, and used -to make the dam bigger and stronger.</p> - -<p>One day Mr. Beaver called out and said:</p> - -<p>“Come on, Toto and Sniffy. You must help -Cuppy and some of the others dig canals to-day.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -It will soon be winter again, and we want to get -a lot of wood and bark stored away before cold -weather comes.”</p> - -<p>Beavers do not sleep all through the winter -as bears, and some other animals, do. The -beavers stay awake, move about, and have to eat. -So they need plenty of food.</p> - -<p>“Digging canals is fun!” laughed Toto. “I -like it; don’t you, Sniffy?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered his brother, “I do. Here -comes Dumple!” he added. “Let’s have some -fun with him!”</p> - -<p>So the three beaver boys tumbled about on the -ground as they went along to where the canal -was being dug. There they found Cuppy and -many other animals at work, for several large -trees had been cut down, and they must be floated -in canals to the dam.</p> - -<p>Each of the beaver boys was given a certain -part of the work to do, and Toto was soon busy -with the others. Foot by foot the canal was dug.</p> - -<p>Now of course beaver boys don’t like to work -all the while, any more than real boys do, and -Toto was a real beaver boy. So, after he had -dug a bit, he looked around, and, seeing no one -near him, he said to himself:</p> - -<p>“I’m going to see if I can’t find some willow -bark to eat. Somehow to-day I seem to want a -bit of willow bark.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span></p> - -<p>He climbed out of the canal, which had no -water in as yet, and walked, or waddled, off -through the woods. And soon Toto was going -to have an adventure that was not a nice one.</p> - -<p>He was walking along, thinking of what fun he -would have that evening on the mud slide, when, -all at once, he seemed to smell something very -good. It was a piece of apple, and Toto had -not eaten an apple for many days, as none grew -in the woods.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how good that is!” he exclaimed. “Some -one must have dropped it here under the trees.”</p> - -<p>Toto looked about and sniffed until he saw a -small, red apple. It seemed to be on top of -a little pile of leaves.</p> - -<p>“Oh, how good!” cried Toto. He walked up -to the apple, and then, all of a sudden, something -happened! There was a clicking sound, and Toto -felt a pain in his leg. Then he knew what it was.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear, I’m caught in a trap!” cried the -beaver boy.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X<br /> -<small>TOTO ON A BOAT</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">True enough, Toto, the bustling beaver, -was caught in a trap. Some one had set -the trap in the woods, covering it over -with dried leaves so it could not be seen. And an -apple had been put near the trap, so that it would -attract, or call by its smell, some animal. And -Toto was that animal.</p> - -<p>“Snap!” had gone the jaws of the trap, closing -together on Toto’s leg, and the beaver boy was -in great pain.</p> - -<p>“Oh, dear! Ouch! Oh, let me go!” cried -Toto, in beaver talk. But the trap did not let -him go, and, pull as he did, Toto could not get -loose.</p> - -<p>After struggling for a while, pulling this way -and that, and still feeling himself held fast, Toto -grew quiet and lay down on the dried leaves.</p> - -<p>He had pulled the trap out into plain view now, -and he could see where the steel jaws were shut -fast on his leg. Toto was glad of one thing, and -this was that the jaws of the trap were not sharp -and jagged like a barbed wire fence. Some traps,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> -Toto knew, were made with iron teeth in them, -and when they fastened on an animal’s leg they cut -into it. This trap was an easier kind.</p> - -<p>“If the trap wasn’t fast to a chain, and the -chain fast to a stump, I could pull the trap along -with me, and maybe Cuppy and my father could -get it loose from my leg,” thought Toto. But -the boy who had set the trap had known that any -animal which got caught in it would try to pull -it away, so he had made it fast to a stump. All -the pulling Toto did would not loosen the trap.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m caught, and that’s all there is to -it,” thought poor Toto. “I can’t get loose, but -maybe if I could call some of the other beavers -they could help me,” he went on. He knew that -to call the other beavers, or to warn them of -danger, he must flap his tail on the ground. If -he had been near water he would have flapped -it on the water, and it would have made a louder -sound. But he was away from the water and had -to do the best he could.</p> - -<p>Thump! Thump! Thump! went Toto’s tail -on the ground. His tail was not caught in the -trap, and he was glad of that. Thump! Thump! -Thump! went his tail again. Then Toto listened. -But none of the other beavers came to help him.</p> - -<p>After a while the pain in his leg was not quite -so bad. He was sure the bone was not broken, -and he was glad of that.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p> - -<p>“But what is going to happen to me?” thought -Toto. “Dad always told me to be careful and -keep away from traps, and here I have gone and -walked right into one!</p> - -<p>“But that apple did smell so good!” went on -Toto. “I just couldn’t help wanting it!” He -had managed to get one bite of the apple -before the trap snapped shut on his leg. And -now, as he saw the fruit lying near him, Toto -thought he might as well eat the rest of it, which -he did.</p> - -<p>Hardly had he finished eating when he heard a -noise in the bushes and among the leaves, and he -knew some one was coming. Toto’s heart beat -very fast, and, as any wild animal would have -done, he tried to get away, forgetting, for the -moment, that he was held fast by the trap. A tug -at the chain and a pain in his leg brought to his -mind that he was still a prisoner, and he fell back -among the leaves.</p> - -<p><a href="#i_p095">And then through the bushes came a boy.</a> In -an instant he saw Toto in the trap.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve caught a beaver! I’ve caught a -beaver!” cried the boy, jumping up and down.</p> - -<p>The boy walked toward Toto. Once again the -little animal tried to get away, but the chain and -trap held him. The beaver crouched down in the -leaves and the boy put out his hand to stroke his -fur.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span></p> - -<p>Toto showed his orange-colored teeth, opening -his lips as a dog does when he snarls. Toto knew -he could bite and bite hard, and that was all he -thought of now.</p> - -<p>“Oh ho! showing your teeth, are you?” exclaimed -the boy, as he drew back his hand. -“Well, I must be careful! But I won’t hurt you, -poor fellow. I’m sorry you are caught in my -trap, but I am glad I didn’t use one with sharp -teeth.</p> - -<p>“And I want a beaver for a pet, or else I’d -let you go. But I’ll be good to you. I’ll take you -home with me and you can have a nice little cage -to live in, and I’ll give you apples and bark to -eat every day. I guess you like apples, ’cause -you ate the one I used to bait my trap,” went -on the boy.</p> - -<p>Toto looked at this boy. For a moment the -beaver thought he might be the same one who had -chased the tramps, but of this Toto could not be -sure. He did not know much about boys or men.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I’ll take you home to our houseboat and -treat you kindly,” went on the boy. “Dad said -I couldn’t catch anything in my trap, but I did. -And now I wonder how I can get you home without -having you bite me? I guess I can put you -in a bag.”</p> - -<p>The boy had a cloth bag in his pocket, and,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -opening this, he poked Toto into it, using a stick. -The beaver tried not to go in, for he was afraid -the bag was a worse trap than the one in which -he was already caught. But the chain held the -beaver fast and he had to do just as the boy -wanted.</p> - -<p>And so, a little later, Toto found himself shut -up in a bag, trap, chain and all, and being carried -away over the boy’s shoulder. The trap was still -fast to the beaver’s leg, and he wished it would -be loosened, for it hurt.</p> - -<p>Then, if Toto had been a boy or a girl, he would -have cried. But beavers don’t do that.</p> - -<p>Toto did not know where the boy was taking -him, but it seemed a long way through the woods, -and, after a while, the beaver felt himself being -set down, inside the bag as he was.</p> - -<p>“Where have you been?” asked some one of -the boy.</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve been off in the woods, Dad!” answered -the boy. “And, what do you think? I -caught a beaver in my trap! A beaver!”</p> - -<p>Of course Toto did not understand these words, -but he could hear the boy and his father talking. -Then the bag was opened, and Toto tried to -jump out. But some one caught him round the -middle of his body, in strong hands, and Toto -could not turn his head to bite. Toto saw that a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> -man was holding him, and the boy was standing -near. And all around was water. Toto could -see it and smell it.</p> - -<p>At first he thought he was back at the dear old -beaver pond, and he looked for the dam, for -Cuppy, for his father and the others. But a -second look showed him that this was not the -beaver pond. It was another body of water—much -larger. But still Toto wished, with all his -heart, that he was in that water.</p> - -<p>“I’d soon get away from them by swimming, -if they’d let me go and would take this trap off -my leg,” thought Toto.</p> - -<p>But the man was not going to let him go. He -held tightly to Toto, and the beaver could not bite.</p> - -<p>“Take the trap off his leg, Donald,” said the -boy’s father. “It must hurt him. I hope the leg -isn’t broken. If you want a beaver for a pet -you should have used a box trap, that would not -have hurt him.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t know I was going to catch a beaver,” -replied the boy. “But I’m glad I did. I’ll make -a little cage for him, and feed him bark and -apples. You hold him, Dad, while I take off the -trap.”</p> - -<p>So while the man held Toto, with his hands on -the middle of the fat beaver’s body, the boy -opened the trap and slipped it from the animal’s -leg. And you can well guess that Toto was very -glad of this. The pain stopped when the trap -was taken off, and, aside from a little sore place -on his leg, the beaver was not hurt.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p095" style="width: 650px;"> - <img src="images/i_p095.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_91">And then, through the bushes, came a boy.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96-<br />97]</span></p> - -<p>“We’ll put him in a box, and then we must start -the boat,” said the man.</p> - -<p>Toto did not know what a boat was, but a little -later he found himself in a box, with a wire screen -over the side which was open. Toto could look -out, he could smell the air and the water, and he -could see the water itself, but he could not get -out. And then, by the way the wind blew and -by the manner in which the sun sparkled on the -little waves, Toto knew that he was moving along.</p> - -<p>“But it’s queer I’m not swimming,” thought -the beaver. “I am moving along on the water, -and yet I am not wet. How is that, I wonder?”</p> - -<p>The truth was that Toto had been brought on -board a houseboat—that is, a boat made somewhat -like a house. Donald, his father and his -mother were traveling down the river on a houseboat, -and when they “tied up” for a day Donald -had gone on shore and set his trap. And he had -caught Toto. Now Toto was on the boat and -more adventures were going to happen.</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI<br /> -<small>TOTO GETS HOME AGAIN</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Shut tightly in the cage on the deck of the -houseboat, Toto looked across the water. -The boat was moving slowly along. It was -near the bank of the river, and some of the trees -were so close that the boat brushed the branches -as it moved along.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Toto heard a voice speaking to him -in the beloved animal language he knew so well.</p> - -<p>“Hello there, beaver boy!” called the voice. -“What are you doing on that boat?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know what you mean by ‘boat,’” -answered Toto, “but I don’t want to be on it, -whatever it is. But who are you? Can’t you -help me?”</p> - -<p>“No, I am sorry to say I can not,” was the answer. -“Don’t you remember me? I am Slicko, -the jumping squirrel, and I live in one of the trees -near your beaver pond.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, Slicko, see what’s happened to me!” cried -Toto, looking from his cage and seeing the squirrel -frisking about in the trees on shore near the boat. -“I was caught in a trap, and now I’m in a cage.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, I see you are,” answered Slicko. “I wish -I could help you, but I can’t. I was caught in -a trap once, myself, and I lived in a funny cage -with a wheel. But I got away, after I had had -many adventures, and now I am back in the woods -again. A man wrote a book about me, too.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I wouldn’t care how many books they -wrote about me if I could only get out of this -cage,” sighed Toto. “I don’t know what a book -is, and I don’t much care. I heard Don and -Blackie talk about them, though.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do you know Don and Blackie?” asked -Slicko, as she kept running along in the trees, -chattering away to Toto and keeping up with the -slowly moving houseboat.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know them a little,” answered the -beaver.</p> - -<p>“And do you know Squinty, the comical pig, and -Mappo, the merry monkey?” asked Slicko.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t met them yet, but maybe I shall,” -answered Toto. “But I’d rather be back at the -beaver dam and hear my mother tell me to come -in and get some poplar bark.”</p> - -<p>“I am sorry for you,” chattered Slicko, who -had once lived near the dam. “I’m going back -to the beaver pond now, and I’ll tell your father -and mother what’s happened to you.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you!” said Toto. “Maybe they -can come and take me away.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span></p> - -<p>“I hope so,” said Slicko.</p> - -<p>Then the river grew wider, the boat moved -out farther from shore, and Toto and the -squirrel could no longer talk to one another. But -Slicko waved her bushy tail at the beaver boy -in the cage on the deck of the houseboat.</p> - -<p>For several days Toto was kept a prisoner in -the cage on the houseboat. It was not a fast -boat, and did not go very far any day. Only a -mile or two would it move down the river, and -then it would be tied up to the shore, while the -man and his wife and Donald went walking in the -woods. The man painted pictures, and he would -stop at every pretty scene he came to. So, -though a week had passed since Toto was caught -in the trap, he really was not carried very far -away from his own home at the beaver dam in -Winding River.</p> - -<p>The boy who had caught the beaver in a trap -was kind to Toto. He brought bits of bark, potatoes, -apples and sweet water-plant roots to the -little prisoner each day. At first Toto would -not eat, but finally he grew so hungry that he had -to. His leg was not sore any longer, and he -could have waddled on the ground, or he could -have paddled through the water if he could only -have gotten loose. But he was kept shut up in -a tin-lined wooden box with wire in front. This -was his cage.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span></p> - -<p>Slicko had kept her word. She had gone back -through the woods, and, reaching the beaver pond, -she had told Cuppy and the others how she had -seen Toto in a cage on the houseboat.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Beaver and her husband and Sniffy wanted -to go right away and rescue Toto, and they started -with Cuppy and some of the others. For beavers -are animals that help one another when they can. -They are all like one big family. But the houseboat -had gone down the river, and even Cuppy, -wise old beaver that he was, could not find it.</p> - -<p>“I guess Toto is gone forever,” sighed Mother -Beaver. “Well, it is sad, but it can not be helped. -I hope he has a happy home.”</p> - -<p>And so, after a few days, Toto was almost -forgotten by all who lived in the beaver pond. -His mother and father did not forget him, though, -even when they were busy gnawing down trees -or working on the dam.</p> - -<p>One day, about two weeks after he had been -caught in the trap and put in the cage, Toto, still -on the houseboat, saw, from the deck, that they -were coming to a very wide part of the river. It -was a stretch of water much larger than the beaver -pond. And there were not so many trees near the -river now.</p> - -<p>“Are we going to stop at the big city, Dad?” -asked Donald, the boy, of his father, as they stood -on deck, looking around.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, I think we shall tie up there for a day -or so,” was the answer. “I have painted some -pictures of the woods, and I may sell them in the -big city.”</p> - -<p>“I like the city and I like the woods,” said the -boy. “They are going to have a circus here at -this city. I saw the pictures on the billboards. -I want to see the elephants and the lions and -the tigers.”</p> - -<p>“The wild animals in the woods are better than -those in a circus, my boy,” said the man. “But -still if there were no circuses many people would -never see a wild animal. We shall all go to the -circus.”</p> - -<p>And so, a little later, the boat was tied up -near the shore of the river, and Toto, looking -out from his cage, could see a number of big, -white objects. At first he thought they were -white clouds that had come down to earth, as -happens in a fog. But when he looked again -he knew they were not clouds.</p> - -<p>“There are the circus tents!” cried the boy.</p> - -<p>And a little later Toto saw the boy and his father -and mother leave the boat, going on shore.</p> - -<p>But while he was lying stretched out in his cage -on the deck of the houseboat, being all alone, now -that the man and lady and boy had gone to the -circus, Toto heard voices talking, and he heard -the tramp of heavy feet.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span></p> - -<p>“Here is a good place to water the elephants,” -said a man. “Come on, Tum Tum, take a drink -and go in and take a bath if you want to. There -is plenty of water. But don’t splash any on this -houseboat. The people who own it might not -like it.”</p> - -<p>Toto looked from his cage. He saw, entering -the water, a number of big animals, many hundred -times as large as the largest beaver. And the -animals seemed to have two tails, one in front -and one behind. But the one in front was larger -and could be curled and twisted in a very strange -way.</p> - -<p>“Take a drink, Tum Tum!” called one of the -men with the big animals.</p> - -<p>Then Toto saw one of the big beasts stick his -front tail down into the river, suck up a lot of -water and squirt it over his back.</p> - -<p>“Is your name Tum Tum?” asked Toto of the -big beast who was nearest the houseboat.</p> - -<p>“That’s what it is,” was the answer. “But who -are you and why are you there?”</p> - -<p>“I am a beaver, and my name is Toto,” was -the answer. “I was caught in a trap and now I -am in a cage, and I wish I could get out. But -what kind of animal are you? I never saw one -like you before. And why have you two tails? -I have only one.”</p> - -<p>“I have not two tails,” answered Tum Tum,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -the jolly elephant. “The one in front is my -trunk, or nose. But I am sorry for you if you -don’t like it in your cage. I live in a circus, and -some of our animals like to be in cages, while -others do not.</p> - -<p>“We had a tiger named Tamba in the circus, -but he isn’t with us any more. He got away, -and I heard he went back to the jungle where he -first lived. But Nero, our circus lion, is still in -his cage, or he was when I came from the circus -grounds a little while ago. Nero seems to like -it in his cage.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I don’t like it here,” said Toto. “I -don’t believe I’d like it in a circus, either, though -I never tried that. I wish I could get away.”</p> - -<p>“Do you really want to get loose?” asked Tum -Tum, the jolly elephant, coming close to the houseboat, -on the open deck of which stood Toto’s cage.</p> - -<p>“Of course I want to get loose. I want to go -back to the beaver dam!”</p> - -<p>“Then keep very still and I will set you free,” -said Tum Tum, in what would be an animal -whisper. “I can reach over, with my trunk, and -tear the wire loose from the front of your cage. -Then you can get out.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you! Please do that!” begged -Toto.</p> - -<p>So, when none of the other elephants were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -looking, and when the circus men were busy -farther down the river, Tum Tum reached his -trunk over the low rail about the deck of the -houseboat.</p> - -<p>On the end of Tum Tum’s trunk was a sort -of finger and thumb. You have seen elephants -use them in picking up peanuts. Tum Tum with -his trunk now quickly tore the wire off the front -of Toto’s cage. In another minute the beaver -was loose and out on deck.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you!” he called to Tum Tum. -“Now I am free!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, you may go anywhere you like,” said -Tum Tum. “Don’t you want to come to the -circus and see me and Nero do tricks? We are -said to be quite smart, and a man who wrote about -Blackie, Don, Mappo and some other animals, -has written a book about me and about Nero. -Better come and see us.”</p> - -<p>“No, thank you,” answered Toto. “I want to -swim back to my beaver friends as soon as I can. -Thank you for setting me free.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t mention it! Glad I could help you!” -said Tum Tum, speaking in a rumbly voice, for his -trunk was under water just then.</p> - -<p>It did not take Toto long to jump off the boat -into the river. And, oh! how good it felt to -him to be in water again where he had room<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -enough to swim. He knew he had come down -stream, so he began to swim up, as his home was -in that direction.</p> - -<p>I am sorry I have not room to tell you the many -adventures Toto had as he swam up the river, -and along the other streams that branched from -it. How he knew his way back to the beaver -dam I don’t know, but Toto did. Cats and dogs -find their way back home when they have been -taken many miles away, in trains or automobiles, -so it is not strange that Toto could find his way -back.</p> - -<p>It took him more than a week, though, and he -had to be careful not to be caught again, for many -times he was chased by dogs and boys. But he -was pretty safe as long as he kept in the water. -And at last, one day, Toto found himself back -again in the very woods where he knew he lived.</p> - -<p>He swam as near to the pond as he could, and -then he crawled out and waddled along through -the woods, taking care not to get into any more -danger.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, as Toto traveled along, stopping now -and then to nibble a bit of bark, he heard some -voices talking—the voices of men. By this time -Toto was quite well acquainted with men’s voices. -The voices of Donald and his father were kind, -but the voices the beaver boy now heard were -harsh and angry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span></p> - -<p>“Well, you hid the jewelry away, and you ought -to know where you put it!” said one voice.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I put it in a hollow tree, but now I can’t -find the tree,” growled another voice. “You all -saw me hide it!”</p> - -<p>“Yes, but maybe you came and took it away -when we didn’t know it,” said another. “Where -is that jewelry?”</p> - -<p>“In the hollow tree, I tell you! But I don’t -know which one. We hid it in such a hurry that -I have forgotten!”</p> - -<p>Then the voices grew more harsh and angry, -and Toto, looking through a bush, saw the same -ragged men, one of them red-haired, that he had -seen before when they robbed the home of the -little girl’s grandmother.</p> - -<p>“I guess I’d better not let them see me,” -thought Toto. “I don’t want to be caught -again!” So he slipped around the tramps sitting -in the woods, and a little later Toto came within -sight of the beaver pond. He saw his brother -Sniffy on top of the dam, mending a hole with -some clay and grass roots.</p> - -<p>“Sniffy! Sniffy! Here I am!” called Toto. -“I’m home again!”</p> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII<br /> -<small>TOTO IN A STORM</small></h2> -</div> - - -<p class="cap">Sniffy, the other little beaver boy, who -was plastering up a hole in the dam with -some mud, was so surprised at hearing Toto -call that for a moment he did not answer. Then, -when he had looked up and had seen his brother -walking toward him, Sniffy cried:</p> - -<p>“Is it really you, Toto? Have you come back -to us? Where have you been and what happened -to you?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I really have come back, as you can -see,” answered Toto. “And as for where I have -been and what happened to me, it will take a long -time to tell. I have had many adventures, but -perhaps the most strange of all was when Tum -Tum broke open the cage where I was held on -the houseboat and set me free.”</p> - -<p>“Who is Tum Tum?” asked Sniffy. “Is he a -beaver?”</p> - -<p>“Tum Tum is a jolly elephant, and he lives -in a circus,” said Toto. “He’s in a book, too, -and he said maybe a man might put me in a -book.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span></p> - -<p>Sniffy sat down on his tail.</p> - -<p>“I do declare, Toto!” exclaimed the little stay-at-home -beaver, “since you went away you use -so many strange words that I don’t know what -you are talking about. Adventures, book, circus, -Tum Tum, and the like of that! Goodness, but -you must know a lot!”</p> - -<p>“Oh, not so very much,” answered Toto. “I -didn’t know enough to keep out of a trap.”</p> - -<p>“Is that how you were caught?” asked Sniffy. -“In a trap?”</p> - -<p>“That’s just how,” answered Toto. “I ate a -piece of apple, as Slicko must have told you, and -was caught. But come on, I want to see my -father and mother, and Cuppy and Dumple and -all the rest.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, and I guess they’ll be glad to see you!” -said Sniffy.</p> - -<p>And you may be sure the other beavers were -glad to see Toto again. He had to tell them -all about his adventures, and how he met Slicko, -the squirrel, and Tum Tum, the elephant, and -also what he heard about Tamba, the tame tiger, -and Nero, the circus lion.</p> - -<p>“Did anything happen after I was away?” -asked Toto.</p> - -<p>“Not very much,” answered his father. “We -had one storm and the dam was broken a little. -We are mending it now.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, and I think we are going to have another -storm,” said Cuppy. “We must hurry and cut -down more trees to make the dam stronger. We -must be busy, bustling beavers for a time now.”</p> - -<p>So, almost as soon as he had returned home, -Toto had to go to work. But he liked it. In -fact beavers like work more than any other animal -in the world, I think.</p> - -<p>“Did you see anything of the tramps while I -was gone?” asked Toto of his brother one day, -when they were off in the woods, gathering bark -for supper.</p> - -<p>“No, I haven’t seen them,” Sniffy replied. -“Have you?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, on my way back home,” Toto answered. -“They were talking loud in the woods, but they -didn’t see me. I guess they don’t live around -here.”</p> - -<p>It was a day or so after this when Toto was -off among the poplar trees, getting some bark -for himself and some for his mother, that he heard -talking among the bushes.</p> - -<p>“Maybe the tramps are here again!” thought -Toto, crouching down among the leaves. Then, -as he peered out, with only his head showing, the -little beaver boy saw a lady and a little girl walking -in the woods.</p> - -<p>“Do you think we’ll ever find that box of -jewelry, Grandmother?” asked the little girl.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span></p> - -<p>“I’m afraid we never shall,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>“Well, you know Bobbie said, when he chased -after the tramps, that they ran to the woods. -Maybe they dropped the box of jewelry, with -my bracelet, somewhere among the trees. Or -maybe they hid it.”</p> - -<p>“I hardly think so, Millie,” answered her grandmother. -“Since you first told me that I have -been looking among the trees, but I have not found -even so much as a tiny ring—one I used to wear -when I was a little girl. I guess my box is gone -forever.”</p> - -<p>Then the little girl and her grandmother walked -on.</p> - -<p>When Toto went back to the dam that afternoon -he found all the beavers very busy. His -father, his mother, Sniffy, Dumple and all the rest -were cutting down trees, and Cuppy was hurrying -here, there, and everywhere, keeping watch of -the work.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked Toto. “Are the -bad tramps coming?”</p> - -<p>“No, but a storm is coming,” answered Cuppy, -“and it may rain hard and make our pond so -deep that the water will wash away our dam. So -we are making the dam stronger. You must help -too, Toto.”</p> - -<p>Toto was very glad to do his share of the work, -and soon he and Sniffy were together gnawing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -down a big tree. All the afternoon the beavers -worked at making their dam stronger. As the -sun began to go down the wind blew harder and -the sky was black with clouds. Cuppy banged -his tail on the ground, and all the other beavers -stopped work to see what the matter was.</p> - -<p>“Stop gnawing trees, everybody!” called Cuppy. -“Don’t gnaw any more. Finish those you have -started, and then we will stop work.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Toto. “We can see to gnaw -in the dark almost as well as in daylight.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, I know,” answered Cuppy. “But there -is a big wind storm coming. If a tree is half -gnawed through it may blow over before you -know it and hurt you. Whole trees, which we -have not bitten into, will not so easily blow over. -So finish what you are doing, my friends, and then -do not gnaw any more until after the storm.”</p> - -<p>Every one did as Cuppy said, for he was the oldest -and wisest beaver of them all, and when darkness -came the last of the half-gnawed trees was -cut through, and Toto and all the rest went to -their houses.</p> - -<p>In the night the storm came. My, how the -wind did blow! But there was not much rain, -and the beavers were glad of that, for their dam -was safe.</p> - -<p>In the morning the wind was still blowing very -hard, and Cuppy, who looked out, said:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="i_p113"> - <img src="images/i_p113.jpg" alt="" title="" /> - <br /> - <div class="caption"><a href="#Page_114">A tree had fallen on Toto’s back, pinning him to the ground.</a></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114-<br />115]</span></p> - -<p>“No tree cutting to-day!”</p> - -<p>So the beavers had a sort of holiday, and, after -he had eaten his breakfast, Toto went for a walk -in the woods. He did not mind the rain nor the -wind, and he was going to be very careful about -traps.</p> - -<p>The little beaver boy was walking along, thinking -of his many adventures and wishing he could -see Tum Tum the jolly elephant again, when, all -at once, there came a strong puff of wind, there -was a crashing sound, and Toto suddenly felt himself -held fast.</p> - -<p>“Dear me, I’m in a trap again!” said the poor -little beaver, as he noticed something pressing -heavily on his back. “But I didn’t see any apple, -or anything like that.”</p> - -<p>Then he looked around him, turning as well as -he was able, and he found out he was not in a trap -set by a man. But he was in almost as bad a -plight.</p> - -<p>For <a href="#i_p113">a tree</a> in the woods had been blown over -in the storm and <a href="#i_p113">had fallen on Toto’s back, -pinning him down to the ground</a>.</p> - -<p>Twist and turn as he did, he could not get loose. -His tail was caught, too, so he could not pound -with it and call the other beavers to his aid. Poor -Toto did not know what to do.</p> - -<p>“This is worse than being in a man-trap,” he -said. “No boy will come to take me out for a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -pet now. Oh, if only Tum Tum were here he -could lift this heavy tree off my back!”</p> - -<p>But no Tum Tum came. Toto was held down -by the tree, but he was in no pain. He couldn’t -get loose; that was all. And there he had to -stay, alone in the woods, with the wind blowing -all about him.</p> - -<p>But, after a while, the storm passed. The -rain stopped, the sun came out, and the wind died -away. Still poor Toto was held fast, and he -could not wiggle loose.</p> - -<p>As he was held there, thinking of many things, -and sadly wondering if he would ever see his -home again, he heard a crackling of wood, as if -some one were walking among the trees.</p> - -<p>“Oh, maybe it is Tum Tum come to save me -again!” thought Toto, not knowing that circuses -never come to the forest, but show only in towns -and cities. “Maybe it is Tum Tum!”</p> - -<p>But no jolly elephant came. Instead Toto -heard voices talking, but the voices were gentle, -and not the rough ones of the tramps.</p> - -<p>“Oh, look, Grandma!” cried the little Millie. -“There is a tree blown down.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, it was a terrible storm,” said the old lady.</p> - -<p>“And, oh, Grandma! Look!” cried Millie. -“There is a little brown puppy dog caught under -this tree!”</p> - -<p>“That is not a puppy dog—it is a beaver,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> -said the old lady. “I heard there was a colony of -them in these woods, but this is the first one I have -seen. Beavers are very shy animals.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but Grandma! do you think we could save -this little one that is caught under the tree?” -asked Millie, who had come to walk in the woods -with her grandmother after the storm. “Maybe -he isn’t hurt much and I could take him home -for a pet. He’s like the little beaver that helped -find my skate. Maybe it’s the same one.”</p> - -<p>“Well, we can try to see if we can lift the tree -off his back,” said the old lady. “If we both -take hold I think we can raise it.”</p> - -<p>Millie and her grandmother took hold of the -fallen tree. Once, twice, three times they pulled -at it, and finally they lifted it off Toto’s back. -As soon as the little beaver boy found himself -free he ran away as fast as he could.</p> - -<p>“Oh, there he goes!” cried Millie, much disappointed.</p> - -<p>“Yes, I didn’t think you could get him,” said -her grandmother. “Beavers are too shy to make -good pets. You would have to keep this one in a -cage all the while, I’m afraid. It is better that -he should live free in the woods.”</p> - -<p>If Toto had been a dog or a cat he might have -stayed to thank, in his own way, Millie and her -grandmother for having saved him. But being -a shy beaver all he wanted to do was to get away.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span></p> - -<p>But though beavers are shy they, like most -animals, are curious. They like to see what is -going on. So when Toto had run off a little way -among the trees he stopped, crouched down among -the leaves, and looked back.</p> - -<p>He saw something very curious, though he did -not quite know what it meant. Millie and her -grandmother went close to the broken stump of -the tree that had blown over on Toto.</p> - -<p>“This tree was hollow and rotten—that is why -it toppled over so easily,” said the old lady. -“Look, Millie, there is quite a hole down inside -this stump.”</p> - -<p>“Did the little beaver have his nest there?” -asked Millie.</p> - -<p>“No, beavers always live near water,” answered -the old lady. “But perhaps a squirrel had a nest -here, though I hardly think so, for they like to -live higher up in trees, out of danger.”</p> - -<p>The little girl put her hand and arm down in -the hollow stump. As she did so she uttered a -cry of surprise.</p> - -<p>“Did you find a squirrel, after all?” asked her -grandmother.</p> - -<p>“No, but look what I found!” cried the little -girl. “It’s a box, Grandmother. A box and—”</p> - -<p>“Why—why, it’s my box of jewelry!” exclaimed -the old lady. “Oh, it’s my box of jewelry that -the tramps took! They must have hidden it in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -the hollow tree, and then either forgotten about -it, or they couldn’t find it again. But here it -is. The storm blew the tree over, and we came -along and found it.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it wonderful?” cried Millie. “Is my -bracelet in there, Grandma?”</p> - -<p>The old lady opened the box, took out a pretty -gold bracelet and gave it to Millie. The little -girl looked happy.</p> - -<p>“All my jewelry is here,” said the grandmother. -“The tramps must have been in such a hurry that -they didn’t have time to take out a single piece. -Oh, how happy I am!”</p> - -<p>“So am I!” said Millie, and her bracelet -sparkled in the sun.</p> - -<p>Toto looked at the girl and her grandmother. -He did not know the share he had had in helping -them find the jewel box. For if the tree had not -fallen on him Millie and Mrs. Norman might not -have stopped to lift it off, and if they had not -done that they would not have found the box.</p> - -<p>“Well, I guess I had better go home,” said -the little beaver boy to himself. “Another tree -might fall on me.”</p> - -<p>So back to the dam he went, and there he told -Sniffy and the others what had happened to him, -though of course Toto knew nothing about bracelets, -jewelry and things like that.</p> - -<p>“It seems to me you have lots of adventures,”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -said Sniffy to Toto that night. “You have had -almost as many as Tamba, the tiger, or Tum Tum, -the elephant. Maybe you’ll be in a book, Toto.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I hardly think so,” answered the beaver -boy.</p> - -<p>But you can see, for yourself, that he is.</p> - -<p>And that night, as Millie petted Don, the dog, -who came over with her cousin who lived near by, -and with Bobbie, the boy who had chased the -tramps, the little girl was very happy because she -had her bracelet. And the grandmother was -happy, too. And Blackie, the cat, was happy -also, when her little girl mistress petted her.</p> - -<p>And back in the beaver house, in the waters of -the pond behind the dam, Toto was likewise -happy, as he gnawed some sweet poplar bark.</p> - -<p>Toto had many more adventures after that, but -none of them quite as exciting as the ones I have -written about here. And now let us say good-bye -to the little beaver boy.</p> - - -<p class="p4 noic">THE END</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="tnote"> -<p class="noi tntitle">Transcriber’s Notes:</p> - -<p class="smfont">Punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently corrected.</p> - -<p class="smfont">Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.</p> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Toto, the Bustling Beaver, by Richard Barnum - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TOTO, THE BUSTLING BEAVER *** - -***** This file should be named 62794-h.htm or 62794-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/7/9/62794/ - -Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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