You may easily believe that Toto was quite surprised at being called on to sit up and speak before all the other beavers in the colony. But he was a smart little chap, and he knew that each one must help the others. So he told what he had seen.
“And now,” said Cuppy, “what is to be done? We do not want these tramps around here. Some of them may be hunters, and may try to catch us. Others may tear out our dam, and that would be very bad for us, as the water would all run out of our pond and our houses would be of no use. Now we must either drive these tramps away, or else make our dam so big and strong that they will not want to try to tear it apart.”
“How can we drive the tramps away?” asked Toto’s father.
“I don’t believe we can,” answered Cuppy. “If we were bears or wolves we might, but, being beavers, we can’t very well do it. The next best thing to do is to make our dam stronger. So to-morrow morning we must all—young and old who can gnaw trees—we must all cut down as many as we can and build the dam bigger. In that way we may be safe from the tramps. Now remember—everybody come out to cut down trees in the morning.”
“We can cut trees now, can’t we, Dad?” asked Toto of his father.
“Yes, you and Sniffy must do your share,” replied Mr. Beaver. “We must all help one another.”
The woods around the dam were a busy place next morning. All the beavers who were able began cutting down trees. Later the trees would be floated in canals to the big pond and made a part of the wall that held back the waters.
“Sniffy, do you want to come with me?” asked Toto of his brother, when the two boys had, together, cut down a pretty good-sized tree.
“Where are you going?” asked Sniffy.