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!