between them.

And all the time the Laughing Brook was having harder and harder
work to run. Its merry laugh grew less merry and finally almost
stopped, because, you see, the water could not get through
between all those poles and sticks fast enough. It was just about
that time that the little people of the Smiling Pool decided that
it was time to see just what Paddy was doing, and they started up
the Laughing Brook, leaving only Grandfather Frog and the
tadpoles in the Smiling Pool, which for a little while would
smile no more.



CHAPTER III Paddy Has Many Visitors.

Paddy the Beaver knew perfectly well that he would have visitors
just as soon as he began to build his dam. He expected a lot of
them. You see he knew that none of them ever had seen a Beaver at
work unless perhaps it was Prickly Porky the Porcupine, who also
had come down from the North. So as he worked he kept his ears
open, and he smiled to himself as he heard a little rustle here
and then a little rustle there. He knew just what those little
rustles meant. Each one meant another visitor. Yes, Sir, each
rustle meant another visitor, and yet not one had shown himself.

Paddy chuckled. "Seems to me that you are dreadfully afraid to
show yourselves," said he in a loud voice, just as if he were
talking to nobody in particular. Everything was still. There
wasn't so much as a rustle after Paddy spoke. He chuckled again.