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.