"I think it is wonderful," replied Jerry.
And indeed it was a very fine canal, straight, wide, and deep enough for Paddy to swim in and float his logs out to the pond. Yes, indeed, it was a very fine canal.
XXII
[PADDY FINISHES HIS HARVEST]
| "Sharp his tongue and sharp his eyes— |
| Sammy guards against surprise. |
| If 'twere not for Sammy Jay |
| I could do no work to-day." |
HEN Sammy overheard Paddy the Beaver say that to Jerry Muskrat, it made him swell up all over with pure pride. You see, Sammy is so used to hearing bad things about himself that to hear something nice like that pleased him immensely. He straightway forgot all the mean things he had said to Paddy when he first saw him—how he had called him a thief because he had cut the aspen-trees he needed. He forgot all this. He forgot how Paddy had made him the laughing-stock of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows by cutting down the very tree in which he had been sitting. He forgot everything but that Paddy had trusted him to keep watch and now was saying nice things about him. He made up his mind that he would deserve all the nice things that Paddy could say, and he thought that Paddy was the finest fellow in the world.