Part 6

"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.

"I should say so!" cried Grandpa Whackum. "Of course I never had it done to me, but lots of my friends have, and they never lived after it. So look out for hunters and dogs. And when a hunter hasn't a gun he may have a trap."

"What's a trap?" asked Noodle.

"A trap," answered Grandpa Whackum, "is something made of steel, with strong springs. Hunters put them near our houses, or where we have to walk along near the dam that holds in the waters of our pond. They cover up their traps, and if you are not careful you may step into one.