TOTO MEETS BLACKIE
By this time Bobbie had forgotten all about the tramps who took the
jewelry. He was thinking only of catching Toto.
“Oh ho! You’re a fine, fat one!” laughed Bobbie. “I’d like you for a
pet!”
“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.”
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.
“If I could only find that brook now!” thought poor Toto.
“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, and the boy knew the
little animal, with the flat tail, was trying to get away.
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.
“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.”
Bobbie did not know how hard it was to capture beavers once those busy
animals are in the water.
“I’ll get him! I’ll get that beaver!” cried the boy.
“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.
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 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.
“Oh, there he goes!” cried Bobbie, much disappointed as he saw Toto
dive into the stream. “But maybe I can get him!”
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.
“Where have you been?” asked Mr. Beaver. “You were gone so long that I
thought something had happened.”
“Something did happen,” answered Toto. “A boy chased me, and I saw the
ragged men――the tramps as Don, the dog, called them!”
“My goodness!” exclaimed Mrs. Beaver. “Chased by a boy! Did he catch
you?”
“No, I got away just in time,” answered Toto.
“I hope those tramps aren’t coming to our woods again,” said Mr. Beaver.
“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.”
“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.
“I don’t know what it was they hid,” said Toto. “But the boy chased
them and then he chased me.”
“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.”
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!
I suppose it may sound odd to you to be told 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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!”
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.
“Ho! Ho! That was fun! Let’s do it again,” cried Dumple.
“All right!” agreed Toto. “But did I hurt you?”
“Not a bit!” laughed Dumple. “Come on, Sniffy! Let’s bump into one
another on the slide!” he called.
So Toto’s brother joined the fun, and many other beavers played on the
slide, climbing up and coasting down.
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 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.
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:
“Mew! Mew! Meaouw!”
“Hello! what’s that?” called Toto, looking here and there. “Is anything
the matter?” he asked.
“I should say there was!” came the answer. “A bad dog chased me up this
tree and now I’m afraid to come down.”
“Who are you?” asked Toto.
“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?”
[Illustration: “I’ll help you down out of the tree,” said Toto
cheerfully.]