"Run, run! The river is rising! We shall all be drowned!"

Rosy ran out to see what was the matter, though the wind nearly blew her
away; she found that so much rain had made the river overflow till it
began to wash the banks away.

"What shall I do? what shall I do?" cried Rosy, watching the men rush
about like ants, getting their bags of gold ready to carry off before the
water swept them away, if it became a flood.

As if in answer to her cry, Rosy heard a voice say close by,--

"Splash, dash!
Rumble and crash!
Here come the beavers gay;
See what they do,
Rosy, for you,
Because you helped _me_ one day."

And there in the water was the little fish swimming about, while an army
of beavers began to pile up earth and stones in a high bank to keep the
river back. How they worked, digging and heaping with teeth and claws, and
beating the earth hard with their queer tails like shovels! Rosy and the
men watched them work, glad to be safe, while the storm cleared up; and by
the time the dam was made, all danger was over. Rosy looked into the faces
of the rough men, hoping her father was there, and was just going to ask
about him, when a great shouting rose again, and all began to run to the
pit hole, saying,--

"The sand has fallen in! The poor fellows will be smothered! How can we