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."