“That is not a puppy dog—it is a beaver,” said the old lady. “I heard there was a colony of them in these woods, but this is the first one I have seen. Beavers are very shy animals.”
“Oh, but Grandma! do you think we could save this little one that is caught under the tree?” asked Millie, who had come to walk in the woods with her grandmother after the storm. “Maybe he isn’t hurt much and I could take him home for a pet. He’s like the little beaver that helped find my skate. Maybe it’s the same one.”
“Well, we can try to see if we can lift the tree off his back,” said the old lady. “If we both take hold I think we can raise it.”
Millie and her grandmother took hold of the fallen tree. Once, twice, three times they pulled at it, and finally they lifted it off Toto’s back. As soon as the little beaver boy found himself free he ran away as fast as he could.
“Oh, there he goes!” cried Millie, much disappointed.
“Yes, I didn’t think you could get him,” said her grandmother. “Beavers are too shy to make good pets. You would have to keep this one in a cage all the while, I’m afraid. It is better that he should live free in the woods.”
If Toto had been a dog or a cat he might have stayed to thank, in his own way, Millie and her grandmother for having saved him. But being a shy beaver all he wanted to do was to get away.
But though beavers are shy they, like most animals, are curious. They like to see what is going on. So when Toto had run off a little way among the trees he stopped, crouched down among the leaves, and looked back.
He saw something very curious, though he did not quite know what it meant. Millie and her grandmother went close to the broken stump of the tree that had blown over on Toto.