HIS PROMISE

Paddy the Beaver kept right on working just as if he hadn't any
visitors. You see, it is a big undertaking to build a dam. And when that
was done there was a house to build and a supply of food for the winter
to cut and store. Oh, Paddy the Beaver had no time for idle gossip, you
may be sure! So he kept right on building his dam. It didn't look much
like a dam at first, and some of Paddy's visitors turned up their noses
when they first saw it. They had heard stories of what a wonderful
dam-builder Paddy was, and they had expected to see something like the
smooth, grass-covered bank with which Farmer Brown kept the Big River
from running back on his low lands. Instead, all they saw was a great
pile of poles and sticks which looked like anything but a dam.

"Pooh!" exclaimed Billy Mink, "I guess we needn't worry about the
Laughing Brook and the Smiling Pool, if that is the best Paddy can do.
Why, the water of the Laughing Brook will work through that in no time."

Of course Paddy heard him, but he said nothing, just kept right
on working.

"Just look at the way he has laid those sticks!" continued Billy Mink.
"Seems as if any one would know enough to lay them _across_ the Laughing
Brook instead of just the other way. I could build a better dam
than that."

Paddy said nothing; he just kept right on working.

"Yes, Sir," Billy boasted. "I could build a better dam than that. Why,
that pile of sticks will never stop the water."

"Is something the matter with your eyesight, Billy Mink?" inquired
Jerry Muskrat.

"Of course not!" retorted Billy indignantly. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing much, only you don't seem to notice that already the
Laughing Brook is over its banks above Paddy's dam," replied Jerry,
who had been studying the dam with a great deal of interest.

Billy looked a wee bit foolish, for sure enough there was a little pool
just above the dam, and it was growing bigger.

Paddy still kept at work, saying nothing. He was digging in front of
the dam now, and the mud and grass he dug up he stuffed in between the
ends of the sticks and patted down with his hands. He did this all along
the front of the dam and on top of it too, wherever he thought it was
needed. Of course this made it harder for the water to work through, and
the little pond above the dam began to grow faster. It wasn't a great
while before it was nearly to the top of the dam, which at first was
very low. Then Paddy brought more sticks.