“Certainly not,” replied Colonel, tossing his head. “I very often go miles into the wood, for I can always nose my way back again. How would you like to pay a visit to my friend, the Laziest Beaver? We’ll be sure to find him at home.”
AND LED THE WAY INTO A THICKET
“The Laziest Beaver?” repeated Buddie, in surprise. “Are beavers lazy?” She had often heard her father say, when he had come home tired at twilight, that he had “worked like a beaver.”
“I have known a great many beavers in my time,” Colonel replied, “and I never knew one to do a stroke of work if he could get out of it. Indeed, Lazy as a Beaver, is a common expression in these parts. My friend, the Laziest Beaver, never worked in his life.”
“Well, let’s go to see him,” cried Buddie, happily. “Only, don’t go fast, as I can’t jump over things the way you can.”
“Never fear,” replied Colonel. “I shall show you the easiest paths. Besides, there is no hurry; we have all day before us.”
As he spoke he cleared a huge log with a graceful leap, and led the way into a thicket of young poplar trees.
Now, I am quite sure, Little One, that in going into the wood, Buddie did not mean to disobey her mother; she never before had done so. You are to believe, as I believe, that the bouquet of Enchanter’s Nightshade in her hair was to blame, just as it was the cause of everything else that happened to her that wonderful day.
At first Buddie had some trouble in following her guide, who slipped through the brush with an ease born of much practice. The little branches caught in her hair, and tried to poke out her eyes. But she soon learned to bend her head at the right moment and shield her eyes with her arms; and as they got deeper into the wood, where the proud pine-trees grew and the little bushes dared not intrude, walking became almost as easy as along a road.