STORY VIII

TOODLE'S AND NOODLE'S LITTLE SISTER

"Well, boys," said Grandpa Whackum, the old gentleman beaver, one morning, as he swam out of the house in the pond and took a seat on his tail, on top of the dam, next to where Toodle and Noodle Flat-tail were sitting; "well, boys, I think you might take a few more swimming lessons today, for after you start going to school I won't find much time to teach you."

"School!" cried Noodle, "are we going to school, grandpa?"

"Of course," said the old gentleman beaver, slowly blinking both his eyes.

"But school for the other animals began some time ago," spoke Toodle. "Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, have been going two weeks, and so has Sammie Littletail, the rabbit. I thought we wouldn't have to go."

"Yes," said Grandpa Whackum, "it is true you two boys will start in a little late, but that is because your papa and mamma first wanted you to have some lessons at home in tree cutting, and in house and dam making and things like that. But when you do start to school, say in a week or so, you can easily catch up to the others.

"So, as I said, I'll give you your last swimming lesson now, and then you will always be able to get away from any animals that chase after you in the water."

Now Toodle and Noodle liked the water very much, and they so enjoyed having Grandpa Whackum show them the best way to swim and dive and float, as well as stay under water without breathing for a long time—they liked this so much, I say, that they forgot about soon having to go to school.

My! how they splashed about in the pond, using their hind paws, which were something like a duck's feet. They fairly rushed through the water, and when they wanted to go very specially fast they used their broad, flat tail just like a propeller on a steamboat.

"That's the way to do it!" cried Grandpa Whackum, as he told the beaver boys what to do. "Turn around quickly in the water, and dive down when an alligator or a sea lion chases you," said the old gentleman beaver, showing them how.

So Toodle and Noodle practiced their swimming lesson, and then their grandpa said:

"Now, boys, come up on this old stump and do some diving. Jump right into the water; don't be afraid!"

Grandpa Whackum showed them how to do this, springing off his hind feet and going away down under water where no one could see him until he popped up again.

Toodle and Noodle did this after him, and, though at first they were not very good at it, soon they got so they could dive as nicely as could be.

"Now you are good swimmers," said the old gentleman beaver, "and you may have time to play. But be careful not to go too far away, over to the woods, or the bad wolf may get you."

Toodle and Noodle said they would be careful, and then they began playing tag, and hide your tail, and jump over your chewing gum, and all games like that. Finally they swam away up to one end of the beaver pond, and they were just going to climb out on land, and sit on their tails for a while, until they thought of a new game, or until some of their friends came home from school, when, all of a sudden, something happened.

No, it wasn't a rustling in the bushes, and no bad animal jumped out on them. Goodness knows that takes place often enough, as you well know. But it was something different this time.

Toodle and Noodle heard a gentle little voice somewhere off in the woods, and it kept saying:

"Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear! What shall I do? Who will take care of me? Oh dear!"

"Hark!" cried Noodle. "Did you hear that?"

"Indeed, I did," answered his brother. "Come on, let's go home!" and he started toward the pond.

"Go home!" exclaimed Noodle. "What for? Let's go see what that is."

"No, sir! Never!" cried Toodle. "Why most likely it's a bear or a wolf, making believe cry like that so we'll come closer, and then he can grab us. No, sir! don't you go see what it is at all. Come on home!"

"Oh, don't be a silly!" exclaimed Noodle. "That's some little boy or girl animal in trouble. A wolf or a bear couldn't cry in such a tiny, weeny voice as that. I say let's see what it is."

Toodle listened to the crying voice again. Truly it did sound like some little animal, and not like a bad bear, and finally Toodle said:

"Well, let's go take a look. But be all ready to run in case there's danger. Remember Grandpa Whackum isn't here to help us."

"Oh, I'll be careful," promised Noodle.

Slowly and carefully the two little beaver boys went toward where they heard the voice. It was still crying away like this:

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! Will no one come and take care of me? Oh, dear!"

"It's in that old stump over there," said Toodle after a bit of looking about.

"Yes, that's where it is," agreed Noodle. "The stump is hollow and some poor chap is inside it."

So Toodle and Noodle went up to the hollow stump, and they stood up on their tippy-toes, and they looked in, and at first it was so dark they couldn't see anything, and then—and then—all of a sudden—they looked once more, and—what do you think they found?

Why, there was the dearest, sweetest, cutest little baby beaver girl you ever saw! She was all dressed in a long blue-pink-yellow dress, and she had a little bottle of milk in one paw and a rubber rattle-box in the other, but she was crying, this little baby beaver girl was, and she seemed so lonesome and afraid that Toodle and Noodle felt very sorry for her, and loved her at once.

"Oh, look!" cried Toodle. "A baby in a hollow stump!"

"Yes, and maybe we can take her home and keep her for our little sister," said Noodle. "Oh, joy!"

"Oh, dear!" said the little baby beaver.

"What's the matter?" asked Noodle.

"Oh, I'm left all alone," said the baby. "I was out in the woods with my papa and mamma, and a bear and a wolf chased us. My papa and mamma ran as fast as they could, but the bear and wolf kept after them, and finally they got so close that my papa and mamma couldn't get away. Then my mamma hid me in this stump, hoping, I guess, that some one would find me, and then she and papa ran on and—and——"

But the little baby beaver cried so hard that she couldn't talk. Toodle and Noodle felt the tears coming into their eyes also, but Toodle asked, very, very softly:

"What happened after that, baby?"

"The—the bear and wolf carried my papa and mamma away to their dens," said the baby beaver, "and—and I'm left all alone. Nobody loves me! Oh, dear!"

"Don't cry any more!" said Toodle, and with his handkerchief he wiped the eyes of the baby beaver. "We love you, and we'll take care of you, won't we, Noodle?"

"Indeed we will!" exclaimed the other beaver boy. "We'll take you home with us, and you can be our little sister."

"Will you really?" asked the baby, who was old enough to talk, you see, and she could walk a little. "That will be lovely!" she said, and she stopped crying.

So Toodle and Noodle helped her out of the hollow stump, and then they made a little boat out of a piece of tree which they gnawed down, and they rowed the baby beaver across the pond to their house. And Mrs. Flat-tail said her boys did just right to bring the poor little thing home; and she took her for her very own baby and for a sister to Noodle and Toodle.

They named her Crackie, for she used to drop the dishes and cups and crack them. But no one minded that very much, for they loved Crackie so. And one day a wolf chased her and she threw an ice cream cone at him and cracked that, but it scared the wolf so that he ran away, which was what Crackie wanted.

So that's how Toodle and Noodle got a little sister, whom they loved very much, and some day Grandpa Whackum said he might find that bad wolf and bear and make them let Crackie's papa and mamma go. But lots of things happened before that.

And in the next story, if the cocoanut pie doesn't roll off the table and break the cream pitcher's leg, I'll tell you tomorrow night about Toodle and Noodle sliding down hill.