"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.
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