Chapter III: Part 3

But you must be very careful not to have sharp arrows, and not to aim them at any one--ever! Shoot at the fence. The fence doesn't mind it.

Soon Toodle and Noodle had their bows and arrows all made and they started off to find a good place to play Indian.

"We won't go to the wolf's island this time," said Toodle.

"No, indeed," agreed Noodle. "It's too dangerous. If we go anywhere let's go to a butterfly's island. A butterfly won't hurt us, even if we should gnaw down his peach tree."

So off they started in their play-boat, leaving Crackie at home as before, playing with her mended wooden doll. And the rubber doll was asleep in the bathtub, for she was very fond of soap and water. Not to eat, of course, but to float around in.

Well, Noodle and Toodle sailed on and on in their boats, hoisting their tails for sails, and soon they came to a new little island. They were sure this did not belong to the wolf, and so they decided to land on it and play Indian.

Out of the boat they got, and soon they were having a good time on the island, where a huckleberry bush grew with oranges dangling from the branches. I know that seems queer, but it was so in those days. Of course things have changed since then, and I don't suppose there are now any huckleberry bushes with oranges on, or even lemons, for that matter, but I am telling you this exactly as it happened.

Toodle and Noodle ate a few oranges and then they began to play. They took some poles and made themselves a wigwam, which is what an Indian calls a house. It has a hole in the roof for the smoke to go out, and it looks like a lot of bean poles stacked up in the garden after summer is over.

Toodle and Noodle were playing away at a great rate in their Indian wigwam, shooting arrows at other make-believe Indians in the bushes, sometimes hitting and knocking down an orange or two. And whenever they did this they would stop and eat the oranges. In this way their faces and paws got quite yellow. But the boy beavers did not mind that.

"It only makes us look more like Indians," said Noodle.

"To be sure," agreed his brother.

"Now," said Noodle after a bit, "let's both shoot our arrows at once at that big black stump over there. We'll make believe it's a bear."

Whizz went the two arrows. And then--

"Yow! Wow! Growl! Howl! Scowl!" some one yelled, and the stump rose up on its hind legs and came rushing at Toodle and Noodle. You see it wasn't a stump at all--it was really a bear.

"Oh, dear!" yelled Noodle dropping his bow and arrows. "Come on, Toodle!"

"Yes, let's jump in the water, and then the bear can't catch us!" said Toodle. For you know beavers are very swift in the water, and few animals can swim as rapidly as they.

But alas! Likewise alack-a-day! Before Toodle and Noodle could get to the water the bear had grabbed them in his hairy paws and hugged them. He didn't hug them because he loved them. Oh, no! But because he thought he was going to have a good dinner.

"Oh, yum! Yum!" growled the bear, smiling so that he showed his red tongue and white teeth. "I can see where my dinner is," said the bear.

Toodle looked around, but he could see nothing good to eat. He said so to Noodle.

"I--I guess he means--us!" exclaimed Noodle, sadly like.

"Oh, dear!" cried Toodle. "Now we are in trouble! I guess we had better not come to any islands after this."

"I'll fix you for shooting your Indian arrows at me!" growled the bear.

"We--we thought you were a stump!" said Noodle.

"Worse and worse! Calling me a stump!" cried the bear. "Now I shall certainly frizzle you in buttermilk for my lunch."

Then the bear picked up Toodle in one paw, and Noodle in the other, and off he started with them.

"Where are you taking us, if you please?" asked Noodle, politely. His mamma had taught him to be polite, even to a bear.

"I am going to take you to my den," said the bear. "Then my wife will cook my lunch for me."

So the bear took the two little beaver boys to his den, and as his wife was not at home just then, having gone down to the five and ten cent store to buy a new pair of slippers, the bear said:

"I'll just tie you two chaps to a tree until my wife gets back!"

So what did that bear do but take some strong telegraph wire and wind it around Toodle and Noodle, making them fast to a tree.

"I suppose I could tie you fast with a piece of grapevine," said the bear, "but I know you have sharp teeth, and could soon gnaw yourselves loose. But you can't bite through wire."

And Toodle and Noodle knew with sorrow that they could not, and the bear knew he could go to sleep and safely leave them tied up, which is just what he did.

Down on the ground in front of his den lay the bear, and soon he was sound asleep and snoring. Toodle and Noodle tried to break loose, but the wire was too strong.

"I--I guess this is the end of us," said Noodle sadly. "We are gone!" Toodle thought so, too, and I don't know what would have happened if Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the kind muskrat lady, had not happened to come swimming along. She had been to market to get Uncle Wiggily something for breakfast.

As soon as Nurse Jane saw poor Noodle and Toodle tied up there she came softly out on the island, without waking the bear, and then with her tail, which is just like a rat-tail file you know, Nurse Jane easily cut and filed through that telegraph wire in a jiffy, which is very quickly indeed, and soon Toodle and Noodle were all loose, the cut ends of the wire being bent back.

"Quick now!" whispered Nurse Jane. "Let's get away before the bear wakes up, or his wife comes back!" And they did, the beaver boys and the muskrat lady swimming off under water.

So Toodle and Noodle got safely away, thanks to Nurse Jane and her file-tail, and when that bear woke up, and found his dinner all gone he was mad as hops--and there is nothing madder than them. But it served him right, I think, for being so mean, don't you?

And now we have come to the end of this story, and I guess you are glad of it. But on the page after this, if my new hat blows up on top of the flag pole, so the monkey can put his peanuts in it, I'll tell you about Noodle Flat-tail's long swim.

STORY XIII

NOODLE'S LONG SWIM

"Come on, Noodle!" called Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boy, to his brother one morning as he slid down off the roof of the house in the pond and slipped into the water with a splash. "Come on or you'll be late for school."

"Oh, it's early yet," said Noodle. "We've got lots of time. I just want to finish making this little canoe out of birch bark. Maybe then we can paddle to school."

"Swimming is good enough for me," said Toodle, as he took a little ball of soft mud up on the end of his flat tail and threw it at his sister Crackie. It hit her on the back, but was so soft that it did not hurt her.

Toodle wouldn't have hurt his little sister Crackie for anything--not if you were to give him two ice cream cones and part of another one.

Crackie only laughed, and then she turned a peppersault into the water to wash off the mud. Beaver children, you know, play in the mud and water a good deal of the time, and how they love it! Why, you should see them make mud pies, with white stones for raisins. Some day I'll tell you about that.

"Well, are you coming?" called Toodle to Noodle, as he started to swim to school. "You'd better, Noodle, or you'll be late. The first bell has rung."

"Oh, I've got time enough," spoke the other little beaver boy. "I just want to see if my birch bark boat will sail."

"Well, I'm going, anyway," said Toodle, and away he started.

"I wish I could go to school," spoke Crackie, sort of sadly like. "I don't like to stay home alone when you boys go away to your lessons."

"Never mind," whispered Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all. "Some day, Crackie, you shall go to school, and you'll learn as much as Toodle and Noodle," and then the old gentleman animal gave Crackie a whole ice cream cone for herself, and she let it fall on a stone and broke it. That's why she was called Crackie--she was always dropping things and cracking or breaking them.

But it didn't hurt the ice cream cone much, for only the sharp point was cracked off, and the little beaver girl didn't like that part, anyhow. None of the ice cream was spilled, I'm glad to say.

So Toodle started off to school, and as he swam away he looked back and called to his brother: "You'll be late, Noodle."

"Oh, I guess not," answered Noodle. "I'm coming right along now."

Well, Noodle finished making his birch bark boat, and it sailed very nicely, but there was not enough wind for the beaver boy to sail to school in it, so he thought he had better swim. He was just starting off, having said good-by to his sister Crackie, and he was wondering if he knew his spelling lesson, when Mrs. Flat-tail, the beaver lady, called out:

"Oh, I say, Noodle, do you think you'd have time to swim over to Mrs. Wibblewobble's, the duck lady, and borrow a cupful of salt for me? I want to make a sweet-grass pudding and I need a little salt for it."

"Of course, I'll go, mamma," said Noodle. "I have time enough, for I'll swim very fast. But I thought you put sugar in pudding, instead of salt."

"Oh, this is a new kind," said Mrs. Flat-tail. "I'll give you some of the pudding for supper."

So Noodle started to swim over to Mrs. Wibblewobble's house. He found the duck lady busy in her kitchen, and she got the salt for him, putting it in a cup so that it would not spill.

"You had better hurry," said Mrs. Wibblewobble to Noodle. "My boy Jimmie started for school some time ago."

"Oh, I'll hurry as soon as I go home with this salt," spoke Noodle.

So off the little beaver boy swam once more, but he had not gone very far before he looked around behind him, and he saw something coming after him in the water. He could not see exactly who it was--just a sort of little flurry in the beaver pond, and Noodle said:

"Perhaps this is Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy or some of my friends. I'll wait and see."

So he swam slowly, and the creature in the water swam faster toward him, and then, all of a sudden, Noodle saw that it was no friend of his at all, but the bad old skillery-scalery alligator, who was swimming down under water so Noodle couldn't see him so plainly. But the alligator happened to stick his nose up for a second, to try and bite a fly, and then it was that the little beaver boy knew who the bad creature was.

"Mercy me!" cried Noodle. "That alligator is after me! And he looks hungry, too. I've got to swim with all my might to get away from him. Oh, dear!"

Then Noodle began his long swim to get away from the bad old alligator. Beavers can swim very fast, you know, on top of water, or under it, though when they swim under water they have to come up to breathe every once in a while. And alligators can swim fast, too.

So there was a race between Noodle and the 'gator. The little beaver boy swam on top of the water for a while, and then he would dive down underneath. And he held his spelling book, which had a rubber cover, so it wouldn't get wet, on top of the cup of salt so no water would get in that.

"Oh, if I can only get home before the alligator grabs me I'll be all right," said Noodle.

On and on swam Noodle, but home seemed far off. Sometimes the beaver boy would dive down suddenly, and swim under water. Then, for a little while, the alligator would not know what had become of Noodle. But soon the bad creature, with his long nose, would smell Noodle in the water and take after him again.

Noodle swam this way and that, hoping he could fool the 'gator, but he couldn't seem to, and Noodle was getting tired, for he had swum a long way. It was farther to Mrs. Wibblewobble's house, and back again, than he had thought.

All at once the 'gator made a big spring, giving a jump through the water. He grabbed Noodle.

"Ah, ha!" the bad creature cried. "Now I have you! You gave me a long chase but I have you!"

Poor Noodle didn't know what to do. There he was caught; and he couldn't go to school any more, and he could not go home to give his mamma the cup of salt and--

"Ha!" thought Noodle suddenly. "The salt! Maybe if I throw it in the 'gator's eyes it will make him sneeze, and he will let me go!"

No sooner said than done. Just as the 'gator was opening his mouth to show Noodle his sharp teeth and red tongue, the little beaver boy quickly tossed the cup of salt right into the eyes and nose and mouth of Mr. Alligator.

"A-ker-choo! Foo-do-do! Ker-snoo-ker-choo!" sneezed the 'gator, and he was so excited that he let go of Noodle to reach for his own pocket handkerchief. That was just what the little beaver boy wanted, and a second later he had dived down and swum away.

And the alligator couldn't get Noodle again, either, for he couldn't see with all that salt in his eyes, so Noodle swam safely back to his beaver house again.

He had lost the salt, of course, but Mrs. Flat-tail said that was all right, as she would go herself and borrow some more of Mrs. Littletail, the rabbit lady.

"And you had better hurry on to school, and don't let any more alligators chase you," said Noodle's mamma to him.

"I won't," he answered, and on he went to school, safely and he didn't miss a single lesson. I'm glad to say, getting there just as the last bell rang, so he wasn't even late.

And on the next page, if a little girl named Elizabeth doesn't turn my typewriter upside down to take the ribbon off it for her lollypop doll, I'll tell you about Toodle Flat-tail's fire engine.

STORY XIV

TOODLE'S FIRE ENGINE

One day, in school where Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail, the beaver boys, went to learn their lessons, Sammie Littletail, the boy rabbit, seemed very much excited.

And it was not about his lessons, either, though Sammie was a very smart little school-rabbit. No, it was something else, and pretty soon old Mr. Water Rat, who taught the class, noticed that Sammie was not paying any attention to his school work. Instead of trying to find out how many apples there would be left if you took three potatoes from half a dozen carrots, Sammie was looking at something under his desk.

"Sammie Littletail, what have you there?" asked Mr. Rat, after a bit.

"A water-pistol, if you please, sir," said the rabbit boy, very politely.

"Humph!" exclaimed Mr. Rat. "A school is no place for water-pistols. You may bring it here, Sammie, and then you had better study your lessons."

So Sammie had to bring his water-pistol up to the teacher's desk, and Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail, and all the other animal boys and girls, looked on. And Sammie got all red around his ears, he was so ashamed like.

"Oh, dear!" thought Toodle Flat-tail the beaver boy, as Sammie gave up the toy, "a real water-pistol. It's too bad teacher has it, for he won't know how to have fun with it. I wish Sammie hadn't taken it out; and maybe he'd have let me play with it after school. But now it's gone and the teacher won't give it back until vacation. Oh, dear!"

Sammie, himself, felt badly about his water-pistol, too. But then he knew he should not have taken it out in school. And so the lessons went on.

"Where did you get the water-pistol, Sammie?" asked Toodle Flat-tail of the boy rabbit, at recess.

"Uncle Wiggily Longears gave it to me," said Sammie. "It was a fine one, too. There was a rubber ball on it, and when you squeezed the ball and put the small end of the pistol in the water it sucked up a lot of it. Then, when you squeezed the rubber ball again, the water would shoot out like anything. But now it can't, 'cause Professor Rat has my water-pistol."

"Yes, it's surely too bad!" said Toodle. "I've been saving up for one a long time, but I haven't got my water-pistol yet."

All the animal boys talked about how unlucky it was for Sammie's pistol to be taken away from him, and they all said they thought maybe if Sammie asked Mr. Rat, the teacher, he would give it back.

So Sammie did, after school, and Mr. Rat, being a very kind animal gentleman, said:

"Well, Sammie, if you promise not to bring the water-pistol to school again you may have it back."

Of course Sammie promised, and then he had his toy again. He let all the animal boys take turns squirting it, and when it came to Toodle Flat-tail, the little beaver chap said:

"What'll you sell this water-pistol for, Sammie? I'll give you my new pop gun, and the birch bark whistle I made."

"All right," answered Sammie. "I'll trade you. I'm getting tired of my water-pistol, anyhow."

So that's how Toodle got the water-squirting-pistol that he wanted so very much, and he had a lot of fun with it. But he was very careful not to bring it to school with him, for he did not want Mr. Rat to take it away. Toodle and Noodle played with it around the house, and the best part of it was that their mamma didn't mind how much water they squirted, for beavers live in the pond, you know, and they are wet more than half the time. Only the upper part of their house is out of the pond, and to get in through the front door you have to dive down under water. Isn't that odd?

Well, Toodle and Noodle had a lot of fun with the water-pistol, and Toodle let his sister Crackie shoot it once or twice. She was careful not to let it fall, I'm glad to say, so that it did not get broken.

"Let's play a game with it," said Noodle after a bit. "I'll make believe I'm a funny old sea lion who comes to your house while you're asleep, to try and get in. And you must wake up, and pretend to be scared, and shoot at me with the water-pistol."

"I will!" cried Toodle, and the two beaver brothers had lots of fun playing that game.

And now something is going to happen. I wish I didn't have to tell about it, but I do, for I have promised that I wouldn't leave anything out of these stories, so I have to put the bad part in with the good. But I'll make it come out as nicely as I can at the end.

A few days after Toodle had got the water-pistol from Sammie Littletail, Noodle Flat-tail found some old firecrackers that had been left over from the Fourth of July. They had fallen down a crack in the floor, and there they had been hiding ever since. Firecrackers always like to sleep in cracks you know.

"Oh, goodie!" cried Noodle. "Come on, Toodle. We'll fire them off and have a lot of fun. We'll make believe having a war, and shooting, and all that."

Mrs. Flat-tail didn't happen to be home just then, or I think she would not have let the boys take matches and start to shoot the firecrackers. Toodle and Noodle didn't mean to do wrong, but you know how it is yourself, sometimes.

So they shot off the old firecrackers, and some of them made a loud noise. It grew dark before the beaver boys had finished, and the sparks from the crackers looked quite pretty.

Then Mr. Flat-tail came home and heard, and saw, what the boys were doing. He said:

"Oh, Toodle and Noodle, you must stop this at once! You might set the house on fire!"

"Well, if we did, I could put it out with my water-pistol," Toodle said with a laugh.

"But, anyhow, we haven't any more firecrackers left," said Noodle.

"I'm glad of it," spoke his father.

And that night, when Toodle went to bed he put his water-pistol, all filled with a lot of ice water, right near him on a chair.

"For," he said, "maybe the bad old fox might try to get in tonight, and, if he did, I could squirt water in his eyes, and scare him."

But something else happened. I guess it was worse than a fox, for, all of a sudden, when it was all dark and quiet, and the beavers were asleep, Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all, awakened, and cried out:

"Fire! Fire! Fire! I smell smoke. The house is on fire!"

That woke everybody else up, of course, and such a running around as there was! Surely enough the beaver house--that is, the dry top part that was out of water--was on fire, and it smelled like firecrackers, too. You know how they smell.

"Oh, dear!" cried Mr. Flat-tail. "That's how it happened. Some of the fire-cracker sparks got under the roof, and they glowed and smoked until they have set fire to our house. Oh boys!"

Of course Noodle and Toodle felt very badly about this, even though they had not meant to do it.

"Come, hurry out everybody!" cried Grandpa Whackum, and he helped Mrs. Flat-tail and little Crackie to get out. The fire was quite hot now, and a lot of the other beavers woke up.

"Call the fire engines!" some one cried.

"No--don't do that!" suddenly shouted Toodle. "I have a little fire engine of my own. My water-pistol! I'll put out the fire with that." He had taken it with him when he rushed from the burning house, and now he began to squirt the water on the blaze--the water in his pistol. My how Toodle did squirt his water-pistol! And in a few minutes the fire was out, the house was not burned much and the beavers could go back in it.

So that's how Toodle and Noodle accidentally set fire to the house and how Toodle put it out with his water-pistol, which was as good as a fire engine, wasn't it?

And in the next story, if the door bell doesn't knock all the salt out of the pepper caster, and make the window get a pain in its toothache, I'll tell you about Toodle and Noodle helping Billie Bushytail.

STORY XV

TOODLE AND NOODLE HELP BILLIE

Toodle and Noodle, the two little beaver boys, were on their way to school one morning. It was rather cool, for Jack Frost, the gentleman, who makes the icicles and snow balls and ice cream cones, had been flying around in the night and had left some of his finger marks on the window panes.

So Toodle and Noodle were hurrying along, with their paws in their pockets to keep them warm, and they tucked in their books as best they could.

"There'll be skating soon," said Toodle to Noodle.

"Yes, and snow-balling and sliding down hill and all that," said Noodle to Toodle.

"Bur-r-r-r-r! don't speak of winter!" cried a voice behind an old stump that Toodle and Noodle had just passed. "You young chaps don't know what it means to have snow and ice and all that."

Toodle and Noodle stopped short. They looked at each other and then they looked around the corner at the stump.

"Do you s'pose that's a bear?" asked Toodle to Noodle.

"Maybe it's a wolf," said Noodle to Toodle.

"Ha! Ha!" laughed a voice behind the stump, and out popped Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver gentleman of them all. "I didn't mean to frighten you, Toodle and Noodle," he said, "but when I heard you talking about snow and ice I just couldn't help calling out. You see winter makes a lot of trouble for us. Sometimes the beaver pond freezes so hard that we can't swim in it.

"Of course we can stay in our houses and sleep during the winter, but even that makes it very hard. We have to dive down under the icy water to get at the soft pieces of bark we have stored away to eat, and in winter the hunters come with their traps and dogs to catch us. Oh, ice and snow are not as much fun as boys and girls think they are.

"But never mind. We all want you to have as much fun as you can, even if it does get cold. So run along to school now, and when winter really comes, I'll show you how to make a sled out of a piece of hickory bark and skates out of some old bones."

So Toodle and Noodle hurried on, getting nice and warm as they hopped, skipped and jumped, as they talked about snow and ice and sleds and skates and all things like that.

"Do you s'pose any dogs and hunters will come after us this winter?" asked Toodle of Noodle.

"I hope not," said Noodle to Toodle. "We must have some lessons in how to keep out of traps, and what to do when dogs chase us."

"Yes, Grandpa Whackum will teach us," said Toodle.

Well, the beaver boys kept on going to school, and they were about half way there when, all of a sudden, Toodle called out:

"Look there!"

"Why, it's Billie Bushytail, the squirrel boy," said Noodle. "And he's carrying a big bag of something."

"Let's see what he's got," suggested Toodle. "Maybe it's a present for teacher."

So they ran up to Billie and called:

"What you got, Billie?"

"Oh, what haven't I got," answered the little boy squirrel. "I've got handkerchiefs, and combs and brushes, and nuts, and some dishes and--oh, dear! I don't know what all is in this bag."

"Why, where did you get it?" asked Noodle.

"It's from our house--where we live in the old oak tree, you know. We're moving away from there, and Johnnie, my brother, and I have to help carry the stuff. Oh, I'd a good deal rather go to school."

"What!" cried Noodle. "Don't you have to go to school?"

"Of course, not--on moving day," answered Billie. "I got an excuse from teacher. Johnnie and I are both staying home."

"I wish we were moving," said Toodle, looking at Noodle.

"So do I," said Noodle, looking at Toodle. "Then we wouldn't have to go to school. Where are you moving to, Billie?"

"To the old hollow stump, next door to where Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boys, live," answered the little squirrel. "Oh, say, but this bag is heavy!"

"Let us help you carry it," said Toodle. "We'd like to; wouldn't we, Noodle?"

"Indeed, we would!" cried the other little beaver boy. "Mamma has always told us to help our friends when we could. I'll carry it part way, Billie--"

"And I'll carry it the rest of the way!" interrupted Noodle, before Toodle could finish. "You just let us take it, Billie."

So the squirrel boy gave the bag to Toodle--the bag that was filled with needles and pins, and combs and brushes, and little salt cellars and odds and ends that Mr. and Mrs. Bushytail, the squirrel lady and gentleman, did not want to pack in the wagon that Old Dog Percival brought to move them in.

You know how it is when you move--there are always some little things left out. Why I remember once, when we moved up from the seashore, I left out my hat on the clothes post and I had to go all the way back for it, and a big wave nearly washed my face and--

But there, I started to tell you about Toodle and Noodle helping Billie, not about myself.

On and on went the two little beaver boys and the little squirrel chap. And surely enough, just as they had said they would, Toodle carried Billie's bag part of the way, and then it would be Noodle's turn, and he would take it. Billie carried the books of the beaver boys, and every once in a while he would open the covers, look over the pages and say:

"Oh, my! But I'm glad now, I don't have to go to school!"

"I--I wish we didn't!" said Toodle with a sigh.

"So do I," said Noodle.

On and on went the two beaver boys, helping Billie Bushytail. The bag was heavy, for it had a lot of things in it, but Toodle and Noodle did not mind that, for they were so glad to help Billie.

Then, all of a sudden, just as the three of them were passing a hole in the fence, out jumped a big bad old fox, and he made a grab for Toodle. But Toodle happened to be carrying the moving bag just then, and he banged the fox on the nose with it, and a hair brush which was in the bag struck the bad animal on his eye, and the fox cried out:

"Oh, excuse me! I guess I made a mistake!" and away he ran as fast as he could, and didn't bother Billie or Toodle or Noodle any more that day.

Well, pretty soon the three of them reached the old hollow stump where the Bushytail family was to move in, and there was Johnny Bushytail, with another bag full of stuff, and Old Dog Percival with a whole wagon load and the squirrel papa and mamma with their paws full of the things they had moved from their house.

"It was awfully good of you two beaver boys to help me carry my bag," said Billie. "Thank you very much."

"Oh, we liked to do it," said Toodle.

"Sure we did," spoke Noodle. "May we help you carry in some of the moving things, Mrs. Bushytail."

"Yes, I guess so," said the squirrel lady, not stopping to think that maybe the beaver boys ought to go to school.

So Toodle and Noodle helped the squirrel family move, and, all at once, when everything was inside the hollow stump house, Toodle cried:

"Oh, Noodle! We forgot all about school!"

"So we did!" said Toodle. "Let's go now. Maybe we won't be very late."

So they went to school, but they got there very, very late indeed, and when Mr. Rat, the teacher, asked them what had happened, Noodle said:

"We were helping Billie Bushytail move. He didn't have to come to school, and we--"

"We wished we didn't either," interrupted Toodle. "And--and--"

"I see," said Mr. Rat, with a smile that went away up under his whiskers. "Well, it is so late now there is no use in your coming to school at all. I'll excuse you for today, but don't be behind paws again."

"We won't!" exclaimed Toodle, and Noodle said: "Oh, goodie!" and then they ran off to play with the squirrel brothers at their new house, and had lots of fun. So that's how Toodle and Noodle helped Billie, and in the next story, if the scrubbing brush doesn't go out sleigh riding on the front porch with the sofa cushion, I'll tell you about Crackie's secret.

STORY XVI

CRACKIE FLAT-TAIL'S SECRET

"Don't tell Toodle and Noodle; will you, mamma?" asked Crackie Flat-tail, the little beaver girl, as her two brothers popped into the kitchen where she was talking to Mrs. Flat-tail one morning. "Don't you let them know anything about it; will you?"

"No, indeed!" exclaimed the beaver lady with a smile at her little girl, and then one for each of the boys. "I'll not whisper a word, Crackie!"

"Huh! A secret!" exclaimed Toodle. "Secrets are only for girls, anyhow. And they always tell 'em, so they aren't secrets any more; I don't care!"

"You can tell me and I won't tell. Honest I won't! Cross my tail!" exclaimed Noodle. "Do you want to tell me, Crackie?" and he sidled up to his sister as he asked her.

"Nope! I'm not going to tell--at least not now," answered Crackie.

"I--I know where there's a nice sweet piece of aspen bark, Crackie," went on Noodle. "If you want to tell me the secret I'll show you where the bark is, Crackie."

"Nope!" said the little beaver girl, laughing. "I can't tell you until it's ready, anyhow, and now I must go to the store to get some--"

"Look out, Crackie!" exclaimed Mrs. Flat-tail, "or you'll tell your secret before you know it."

"Oh, then I'm going to hurry right away," said Crackie, "and you boys had better go to school, or you'll be late, won't they, mamma?"

"I guess so," answered Mrs. Flat-tail. "Run along Toodle and Noodle."

The two beaver boys looked at their little sister, who was named Crackie because she so often dropped things and cracked them--such things as cups and saucers and once in a while she'd drop her doll. But then this was a rubber baby, and it did not so much matter, for they can't crack until they get very old, and Crackie's rubber doll was quite young.

"I wonder what it was Crackie didn't want mamma to tell us?" spoke Toodle as he got his books ready to go to school.

"I don't know," answered his brother Noodle, "but we'll find out when we come home from our lessons."

"That's what we will," answered Toodle. "But come on now. We don't want to be late the way we were the other day when we helped Billie Bushytail move."

"No indeed!" said Noodle.

So off the beaver boys swam to school. They swam instead of walking, you know, because they lived in a house that was in the middle of a pond of water, and the only way they could get to shore was by swimming.

And the school was in an old boat, as I have told you before, and Professor Rat was the teacher. Sometimes the old boat would float away, and none of the school children could find it. Then there would be no lessons that day. And oh, how sorry those animal children were that they could not go to school! Oh, dear me, yes indeed! I guess so!

But this didn't happen to be one of the days when the school was lost, and soon Toodle and Noodle had reached the place, meeting a number of their friends and having a good time.

But, all the while, Toodle and Noodle were wondering what their mamma and sister Crackie had been talking about in the kitchen, and why it was they weren't let into the secret. In fact, Toodle and Noodle thought so much about it that they didn't study as they should have done.

And when Professor Rat asked Noodle: "How much are two apples and one apple?"

Noodle answered: "It's a secret."

"What!" exclaimed the teacher, surprised like. "A secret! Why every one knows what the answer is. And what every one knows is no secret. Susie Littletail, you may tell us how much one apple and two apples are."

"Three," said Susie.

"Exactly," went on Professor Rat. "So you see it was no secret, Noodle Flat-tail."

"Oh, I guess I was thinking of something else," replied the little beaver boy.

"Well, in school you must think only about your lessons," said Mr. Rat. And that is very true. I only tell you that about Noodle to show how much he was thinking of what Crackie had said. How he did wish he knew the secret!

But now I must tell you about Crackie herself. The little beaver girl did not go to school, being too small, but she was big enough to go to the store, and that is where she swam after Toodle and Noodle had left. And Crackie bought sugar and spice, and everything nice, just as it tells about in the story book, and home she went with them.

"Now, mamma," she said, "you show me how and I'll make it, and when Toodle and Noodle come home they'll be so surprised! Won't they, mamma?"

"Indeed they will, Crackie," said the beaver lady.

So she and Crackie began to make it. What's that? You want to know what it was? Oh, I'm not allowed to tell, for it's still a secret, you know. But in a little while you shall find out. Anyhow, I'm allowed to tell you this much. When it was all done Mrs. Flat-tail put IT in the oven, and--Well, I'll give you three guesses, not another one.

Anyhow, when it was in the oven Crackie said:

"Well, I guess I'll go out and play a little bit, mamma. I'll go see Jennie Chipmunk. She is ill today and didn't go to school. I'll be back when it's done."

Off swam Crackie, and soon she and Jennie were having a fine time playing under the trees; for beavers play out on dry land as well as in the water. Jennie felt better after school was out. I've often heard of real boys and girls who were just like that.

By and by Crackie went back home, and when her mamma opened the oven door there came out the loveliest smell you can imagine.

"Oh, goodie!" cried Crackie. "It's all done, and how nice and brown it is. Now I'm going to fool the boys."

So what did she do but take the secret out of the oven, her mamma helping her, of course, and then Crackie wrapped it all up in a nice clean paper and a clean cloth--the secret, you know--not the oven.

And when the secret was all wrapped up, Crackie took it outside in the yard and she made a big mud pie--a pie out of nice clean mud, such as the beaver animals use to plaster their houses. Inside the mud pie Crackie put her secret, and then she waited for Toodle and Noodle to come home from school.

The beaver boys were not long in coming, either. They did not stop much to play on the way, for they were very anxious to find out the secret. Soon they were at their house. Out in front was Crackie, making believe stuff sugar plums in her mud pie. The sugar plums were only stones, but it was easy enough to pretend with them. I've often done it.

"Where's the secret?" cried Toodle.

"Oh, Crackie, are you going to tell us?" said Noodle.

"There it is," said Crackie, and she pointed to the mud pie she had made.

"That!" cried Noodle.

"Pooh! What a secret!" exclaimed Toodle.

"Wouldn't you like a piece?" asked Crackie, and she looked over at her mother and smiled. Mrs. Flat-tail laughed. Toodle and Noodle looked disappointed-like.

"Only a mud pie," said Noodle.

"Come on, let's play ball," suggested Toodle.

"You'd better wait until I cut my mud pie," said Crackie, and then, while her brothers watched she broke open the mud pie, which she had baked hard and dry in the sun, and there, inside it, covered over with clean, green grape leaves, was a lovely apple pie, all brown and sugary, with birch bark frosting in one place, and watercress candy in another, and inside--oh, my! I can't write any more about it, for it makes me too hungry.

"That's my secret!" said Crackie. "I baked the real pie all by myself, only mamma helped me, of course. And I put it inside the mud pie just for fun. I wrapped it up so it wouldn't get soiled. Will you have some, boys?"

"Will we!" cried Toodle, quickly.

"I guess we will!" shouted Noodle, and they both together kissed little Crackie. And then they ate a piece of her secret pie. Wasn't that nice? I think so, even if I did write this story myself. And on the next page, if the coffee strainer doesn't take the piano out to a moving picture show and leave it there for the banana man, I'll tell you about Toodle and the big log.

STORY XVII

TOODLE AND THE BIG LOG

One day, when Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail, the little beaver boys, were on their way to school, Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver gentleman in the beaver town, called to them:

"I say, boys, when you come home from school this afternoon I'll have something for you to do."

"Is it a secret?" asked Noodle, wishing he did not have to go to school that day, for he didn't know his reading lesson.

"No, not a secret," answered Grandpa Whackum. "But swim along now. I'll tell you when you come home."

"If it is a secret I hope it's one like Crackie's apple-mud pie," spoke Toodle. "Oh, wasn't that good?" he asked his brother.

"Yum! Yum!" exclaimed Noodle, smacking his lips, and flopping his big tail up and down. "I should say it was! I wish we had some now, and a piece for recess."

"So do I," went on Toodle. "Well, anyhow, if we go somewhere with Grandpa Whackum he's sure to treat us. Maybe he'll get us ice cream cones."

"It's getting too cold for them," spoke Noodle. "I'd rather have some candied water-lily roots, or maybe a birch bark lollypop."

"Oh, I guess I would, too," said his brother.

Well, they went on and on to school, but in the night the wind had blown pretty hard, and the schoolhouse, which, as I have told you, was in an old boat, had drifted off. So Toodle and Noodle couldn't find it right away. Neither could some of the other animal boys and girls who were on their way to recite their lessons.

"Let's look over this way for it," said Bully No-Tail, the frog, pointing one paw toward an old stump where a bear used to live. But the bear had gone off to act in a circus so he wasn't there any more. "Let's look over that way," went on Bully. "Maybe the boat is hidden behind the bushes."

"Oh, no, don't let's look any more," suggested Jillie Longtail, the mousie girl. "I--I don't want to go to school, anyhow."

"Neither do I," added Toodle. "Besides, we've looked pretty good, anyhow, and if we can't find it it isn't our fault."

Well, some of the other animal children said the same thing, and they were just thinking about giving up the search for the school-boat, when along it came floating in the pond, and out in front was Professor Rat himself.

"Good morning, children!" exclaimed Professor Rat.

"Good morning, teacher!" said all the animal children, sort of disappointed-like.

"I'm sorry I am late bringing the school to you this morning," went on Mr. Rat, "and I would have been later only Miss Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy kindly pulled the school along for me. It had drifted away off this time."

"Indeed it had," said Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, who used to take care of Uncle Wiggily Longears, the rabbit gentleman, when he had the rheumatism. "But now, children, you have your school back again, and I hope you also have your lessons. Good-by."

Off swam Nurse Jane, and some of the animal children--in fact, all of them, thanked her kindly, as did Professor Rat. Still, all the children would have been more thankful if Nurse Jane had not brought the school to them. But there it was, and inside they had to go to study their lessons.

But I started to tell you about Toodle and the big log, and it's about time I began, isn't it?

By and by, after a while, not so very long, school was out, and Toodle and Noodle hurried home, for they wanted to find out what Grandpa Whackum wanted of them.

Soon the two boys saw the old beaver gentleman waiting for them, and as they swam up to him, Grandpa Whackum said:

"Now, boys, you know winter will soon be here, and we beavers must begin to store away the things that we are going to eat when the cold weather comes. Real people put a lot of coal in their cellars, but in our cellars we will put sticks and logs of wood, covered with bark, and we will eat this bark all winter.

"We will store it down under the water, where, even when the pond is covered with ice, we can get it. And besides logs and sticks of wood, we can also eat grass and roots that grow on the bottom of the pond. But we must have lots of bark. So now if you will come with me to the woods, we'll gnaw down some trees and bring them home to put in the cellar for winter. That is something all young beavers must learn, and it is time you began."

"All right," said Toodle.

"We'll be glad to come with you," said Noodle. And he smiled, for he saw, sticking from his grandpa's pocket, some nice, sweet, juicy, mushroom lollypops, which he and his brother like very much.

Well, soon Toodle and Noodle were in the woods gnawing down little trees with their four sharp orange-colored front teeth, about which I have told you. Grandpa Whackum also gnawed down trees with his teeth.

By and by, somehow or other, Toodle wandered away from his grandpa and brother, and soon he was in a lonely part of the forest. But he didn't mind that--at least not just then.

"Ah, there is a fine big aspen tree!" exclaimed Toodle, as he looked at a large one. "That will be dandy for us this winter. I'll gnaw that down."

And he started to do it, sitting on his broad, flat tail, which was like a stool for him, as I have told you before.

Soon Toodle had almost cut the tree down, and when it began to fall he hurried out of the way, and whacked with his tail on the ground, to give warning to any other beavers, that might be nearby, to get out of the way. But Toodle was all alone. None of his animal friends was in sight.

When the tree was down Toodle tried to drag it toward the pond, so it would float like a boat to his house. But Toodle found that the tree was too heavy for him to pull. He wished he had not cut down such a big one, but he did not want to have to ask his grandpa and brother to help him. Toodle was sort of proud, you know, and he wanted to get this large log to his house all by himself, just as you want to do things all for your own self sometimes.

"Well, I can cut the top branches off and then I think I can pull the rest of the log," said Toodle.

So, sitting down on his tail again, Toodle gnawed the top off the log. Then he thought surely he could pull it to the water. But though he strained and tugged and pushed and pulled with all his might, still he couldn't do it.

"I guess, after all, I'll have to get grandpa to help me," he said. "But I don't want to. I'll try once more."

My! how hard Toodle tried. And just as he was going to give up, and call his brother to help him, out of the bushes jumped a big black bear.

"Oh, dear!" cried Toodle. "Now I am a goner! This bear will get me surely!" and he was so frightened that he couldn't jump into the water and swim away; this little beaver boy couldn't. He just sat there shivering and sort of hiding down behind the log, hoping the bear hadn't seen him. But the bear had, and the bear said:

"Ah, ha! There you are!"

"Ye--yes," stammered Toodle. "Are you going to--going to eat me--all up?"

"Why, no, indeed!" laughed the bear in a jolly voice. "I just came to help you, Toodle. I have been watching you trying to roll that big log into the water. It is too much for you, so I'll help. Let me get hold of it."

So the bear stuck his long claws into the log and he pushed, and Toodle pulled, and in a jiffy, which is a very short time, indeed, that log was in the water. Then Toodle could very easily swim along and push it with his paws.

"Thank you very much--thank you twice, Mr. Bear," he called out.

"Why twice?" asked the bear, wiggling his short tail.

"Once for not eating me," said Toodle, "and once for helping me."

"Pray do not mention it," said the bear, blinking both eyes. And then he went back in the woods to go to sleep.

So that's how Toodle gnawed down a big log, and how he got it home with the help of the kind bear. And Noodle and Grandpa Whackum were very much surprised when Toodle told them about it.

And in the next story--that is if the clothespin doesn't pinch the table leg and make it dance so the sugar bowl rolls off and tickles the parlor rug--I'll tell you about Noodle finding a trap.

STORY XVIII

NOODLE AND THE TRAP

"Boys, come over here, I want to give you a talking to," said Grandpa Whackum, the oldest beaver of them all. He spoke to Toodle and Noodle, the little boy beavers, one morning when there was no school.

"A--a talking to," said Toodle.

"I wonder if we've been bad?" asked Noodle.

"Nonsense! Bad? Of course not," said Grandpa Whackum, who heard what his little grandson said. "I just want to give you a little lesson."

"Lessons today--when it's Saturday, and there's no school?" cried Noodle.

"Oh, don't be worried!" exclaimed Grandpa Whackum, who had such a funny name because he used to whack his big tail on the ground (making a noise like a bass drum in the circus) whenever there was any danger. That's the way he used to warn the other beavers to look out. So his name was Whackum. Some of you may, perhaps have thought he was called that because he used to whack the little beavers. Never! Grandpa Whackum never did that. He gave them ice cream cones, or lollypops, instead.

"Don't be worried," said Grandpa Whackum to Toodle and Noodle, who were almost like twins--but not quite. "This will not be a very hard lesson. Besides, animal children, you know, have to always learn things--whether in school or not. And, for that matter, so do real children. Your school teacher can tell you how to add up two apples and three apples, and how to spell cat and dog and boy, and things like that. But she can't always be with you, to teach you how to look out for danger, and how to be polite--though, of course, all school teachers are always polite themselves--and she can't teach you how to eat nicely at the table.

"These things have to be done at home," said Grandpa Whackum, "and so, you see, there are lessons on Saturdays and Sundays, too, as well as on school days."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Toodle, looking to see if Noodle was stepping on his tail--but he was not.

"So we've got to study!" spoke Noodle, with a sigh.

"Oh, not very much," said their Grandpa Whackum. "I am just going to give you a few lessons in how to keep out of danger. And one big danger is traps."

"Traps, eh?" asked Toodle. "Are there any around here?" and he looked all about him.

"You never can tell," replied Grandpa Whackum. "It is coming on winter now, and you know we beavers get our thicker coats of fur then to keep us warm. And whenever our fur gets nice and thick hunters like to catch us, take off our fur and make muffs and caps and overcoats of it."

"Does it hurt to have your fur taken off?" asked Toodle.