Sometimes the beavers slid down on their tails, and sometimes on their backs. Some even slid down on their stomachs, or went down sideways. Down they went, any way to get a slide, and into the water they splashed.
“Hi there! Look out!” cried Toto to Dumple, a little fat beaver boy who lived in the stick house next to him. “Look out! I’m coming!”
But Dumple did not get out of the way quickly enough, and when Toto slid down he bumped right into him, and the beaver chaps went down the slide together and into the water with a splash.
“Ho! Ho! That was fun! Let’s do it again,” cried Dumple.
“All right!” agreed Toto. “But did I hurt you?”
“Not a bit!” laughed Dumple. “Come on, Sniffy! Let’s bump into one another on the slide!” he called.
So Toto’s brother joined the fun, and many other beavers played on the slide, climbing up and coasting down.
When supper time came Toto and the others had very good appetites for the bark which was waiting for them. Darkness came, and the beavers went to sleep. The night settled down on the beaver pond and dam. As Toto went to sleep perhaps he thought of the adventures of that day—how he had seen the boy chase the tramps, and how the ragged men had hidden something in the hollow tree. But Toto did not think much about that. He was too tired and sleepy after playing on the mud slide.
It was two or three days after this that, as our beaver friend was walking through the woods, looking for some soft bark for his mother, he heard a funny little noise up in a tree. The noise went: