He could just feel ever so many eyes watching him, though he
didn't see a single pair. And he knew that the reason his
visitors were hiding so carefully was because they were afraid of
him. You see, Paddy was much bigger than most of the little
meadow and forest people, and they didn't know what kind of a
temper he might have. It is always safest to be very distrustful
of strangers. That is one of the very first things taught all
little meadow and forest children.

Of course, Paddy knew all about this. He had been brought up that
way. "Be sure, and then you'll never be sorry" had been one of
his mother's favorite sayings, and he had always remembered it.
Indeed, it had saved him a great deal of trouble. So now he was
perfectly willing to go right on working and let his hidden
visitors watch him until they were sure that he meant them no
harm. You see, he himself felt quite sure that none of them was
big enough to do him any harm. Little Joe Otter was the only one
he had any doubts about, and he felt quite sure that Little Joe
wouldn't try to pick a quarrel. So he kept right on cutting
trees, trimming off the branches, and hauling the trunks down to
the dam he was building. Some of them he floated down the
Laughing Brook. This was easier.

Now when the little people of the Smiling Pool, who were the
first to find out that Paddy the Beaver had come to the Green
Forest, had started up the Laughing Brook to see what he was
doing, they had told the Merry Little Breezes where they were
going. The Merry Little Breezes had been greatly excited. They
couldn't understand how a stranger could have been living in the
Green Forest without their knowledge. You see, they quite forgot