XXI
[PADDY AND SAMMY JAY WORK TOGETHER]
ERRY MUSKRAT had been home at the Smiling Pool for several days. But he couldn't stay there long. Oh, my, no! He just had to get back to see what his big cousin, Paddy the Beaver, was doing. So as soon as he was sure that everything was all right at the Smiling Pool he hurried back up the Laughing Brook to Paddy's pond, deep in the Green Forest. As soon as he was in sight of it, he looked eagerly for Paddy. At first he didn't see him. Then he stopped and gazed over at the place where Paddy had been cutting aspen-trees for food. Something was going on there, something queer. He couldn't make it out.
Just then Sammy Jay came flying over.
"What's Paddy doing?" Jerry asked.
Sammy Jay dropped down to the top of an alder-tree and fluffed out all his feathers in a very important way. "Oh," said he, "Paddy and I are building something!"
"You! Paddy and you! Ha, ha! Paddy and you building something!" Jerry laughed.
"Yes, me!" snapped Sammy angrily. "That's what I said; Paddy and I are building something."