the Beavers at their
task. He said that if there was one thing that he liked to see more than
another it was "a gang of men working." But he complained that they
ought to work in the daytime, when the sun was shining, because then it
would have been "much pleasanter for him."

"Don't you want to help us?" asked the brisk fellow who had told
Grandaddy Beaver that he thought Timothy Turtle ought to go to work.

That question actually made Timothy snort.

"_Me work_?" he snapped scornfully, as he glared at the speaker.

Everybody knew what he meant. And everybody knew how Timothy felt, too,
when he edged along the dam and made a savage pass at the plump
gentleman who had spoken to him.

[Illustration: Timothy began to climb the steep bluff.]

Luckily the brisk Beaver jumped aside before Timothy Turtle's jaws
closed on him. And he did not say another word to the stranger during
the rest of his stay at the pond.

But Timothy Turtle became quite talkative. He stopped all he met--old
and young both--and warned them that nobody need try to get him to work,
for he never had worked, and he never intended to.

XI

ON THE BEAVER DAM

Timothy Turtle was so angry that he went about snapping at everybody and
everything. And since the whole Beaver family kept carefully out of his
way, he had to content himself with setting his jaws upon roots and
sticks.

Now, the Beavers' dam was made of sticks and mud. So Timothy found
plenty of chances to bite. And because he could not hurt the sticks, no
matter how much he tried, nobody cared.

Really he acted in a most silly, surly fashion.

Out of a corner of his eye Brownie Beaver watched Timothy Turtle
closely. Brownie had not forgotten how Timothy seized his mother by the
tail. And while he was helping his elders on the dam, at the same time
he was trying to think of some way to outwit Timothy Turtle.

It happened that just at that time the dam needed a great deal of
mending. There were so many holes to be filled that the Beavers worked
all night long. And in spite of all their efforts they saw that even
then a few leaks would have to go unmended. But they did not get
snappish nor lose their tempers. They were not like Timothy Turtle.
Though he slept a great part of the night, and waked up to watch the
workers early in the morning, his temper was worse than ever.

He was paddling through the water close to the dam when Brownie Beaver
called to him.

"You see that s