CHAPTER 16
In Beaver Land
Tom, who was especially fond of animals, longed to hold one of the little beavers and fondle it to his heart's content. And what fun it would be, the boy thought, just to jump into the stream and swim along with the busily paddling happy-looking little animals. But Tom contented himself with marveling at the ease with which the beavers pulled the boat.
Although the journey consumed more than an hour it did not seem nearly that long to the travelers who were kept busy watching the changing scenery as the boat sped swiftly downstream. The banks of the river grew much steeper and they could see scarcely any trees, while grey rocks jutted from the earth and forbidding mountain peaks loomed only a few miles distant.
The beavers swam out of the current of the river and drew the boat into a placid pool among the rocks. At the far end of the pool there was a stairway leading from a wooden landing to a wicker door, set in the face of a cliff of grey stone that ran steeply down to the pond's edge.
The fairy beavers seemed to be full of energy and untired by the journey, as they chattered among themselves, drawing the boat to the landing and making it secure.
The Shaggy Man looked about him and observed to the King: "I always thought, your majesty, that beavers liked to live where there was plenty of wood. I've heard tell of them building whole series of dams from trees they had gnawed down—even human engineers have taken some lessons in water control from the beavers."
"You're right," replied the King of the Fairy Beavers. "But those beavers you heard about were of the ordinary kind. Not that we fairy beavers don't do a lot of engineering—we do. But we prefer this desolate region for our home since we are less likely to be disturbed here. And any trees we may need we can always fell and float downstream from the more fertile lands."
