“Where have you been?” asked Mr. Beaver. “You were gone so long that I thought something had happened.”
“Something did happen,” answered Toto. “A boy chased me, and I saw the ragged men—the tramps as Don, the dog, called them!”
“My goodness!” exclaimed Mrs. Beaver. “Chased by a boy! Did he catch you?”
“No, I got away just in time,” answered Toto.
“I hope those tramps aren’t coming to our woods again,” said Mr. Beaver.
“Well, they ran in among the trees,” said Toto, “and they stopped at a hollow one, put something in there, and then they ran on.”
“Maybe they hid a lot of bark in the hollow tree,” said Sniffy. For a beaver, you know, bark is the best thing there is in the world. It is better to him than jewelry ever could be.
“I don’t know what it was they hid,” said Toto. “But the boy chased them and then he chased me.”
“You must always be careful,” warned his father. “These woods are too often visited by hunter men and boys these days. Watch out for traps.”
Toto and Sniffy said they would, and then the beaver boys went out on a little hill, near the pond back of the dam, to have some fun. And the fun they had was sliding downhill!