“He certainly is,” everybody agreed.
“But we hope he’s mistaken about the great
wind.”
When Tuesday came—which was the very next
day—Brownie Beaver crept into his tunnel
in the bank at sunrise. And he never came outside
again until the sun had set.
When he saw that his house was still there, in the
middle of the pond, he shouted with joy.
“Hurrah!” he cried. “The chain
saved my house!” Then he noticed that all the
other houses were still there, too. “How’s
this?” he asked Tired Tim, who stood on the
bank beside him. “Did my chain save the
whole village?”
Tired Tim grinned—for he was not too lazy
to do that.
“There wasn’t any cyclone,” he said.
“There wasn’t a breath of wind all day.
And old Grandaddy Beaver is so upset that he’s
gone to bed and won’t talk with anybody.”
WAS IT A GUN?
Everybody in the village where Brownie Beaver lived
was very much upset. Most people were angry,
too. And no doubt it was natural that they should
feel that way, because while they were taking their
midday naps a man had come and paddled about their
village in a boat.
Brownie Beaver was the first to hear him and he quickly
spread the alarm. There was a great scurrying
as all the villagers stole out of their houses and
swam away under water to hide in holes in the bank
of the pond and in other places they knew.
Toward night, when they all came back again, the man
had gone. But Brownie and his neighbors were
still angry. You must remember that their rest
had been disturbed and they were feeling somewhat sleepy.
So far as they could see, the man had done no damage
either to their houses or to the dam. But people
felt a bit uneasy just the same, until old Grandaddy
Beaver looked all around and reported that the man
had set no traps. You see, Grandaddy knew a great
deal about traps. He had been caught in one when
he was young. Luckily, he managed to get away;
and he learned a few things that he never forgot.
Now, Brownie Beaver had begun to cut down a tree the
night before. Something had interrupted him and
he had left the tree not quite gnawed through and
needing only a few more bites to bring it down.
He was intending to finish his task soon after dark—which
was the time he liked best for working.
Accordingly, after Brownie had finished his supper
and had called at every house in the village to talk
over the visit of the strange man, he swam to the
shore of the pond and made his way to the slanting
tree, which stood a short distance from the water.
It was quite dark. And that was what Brownie
liked, because he could work without being disturbed—at
least, that was what he thought.
Since he could see quite well in spite of the dark
he had no trouble in finding his tree. And he
lost no time in setting to work on it again.
