I believe I'll go ask him."
"Do, and then come tell us," begged Peter, who was growing so curious
that he couldn't sit still.
So Jerry swam out to where Paddy was so busy. "Is this your food supply,
Cousin Paddy?" he asked.
"Yes," replied Paddy, crawling up on the side of his house to rest.
"Yes, this is my food supply. Isn't it splendid?"
"I guess it is," replied Jerry, trying to be polite, "though I like
lily-roots and clams better. But what are you going to do with it? Where
is your storehouse?"
"This pond is my storehouse," replied Paddy. "I will make a great pile
right here close to my house, and the water will keep it nice and fresh
all winter. When the pond is frozen over, all I will have to do is to
slip out of one of my doorways down there on the bottom, swim over here
and get a stick, and fill my stomach. Isn't it handy?"
[Illustration]
XIV
A FOOTPRINT IN THE MUD
Very early one morning Paddy the Beaver heard Sammy Jay making a
terrible fuss over in the aspen-trees on the edge of the pond Paddy
had made in the Green Forest. Paddy couldn't see because he was inside
his house, and it has no window, but he could hear.
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