"Seems as if anyone 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.
Sammy was terribly put out to think that anything should be going
on that he didn't know about first. You know he is very fond of
prying into the affairs of other people, and he loves dearly to
boast that there is nothing going on in the Green Forest or on
the Green Meadows that he doesn't know about. So now his pride
was hurt, and he was in a terrible rage as he started after the
Merry Little Breezes for the place deep in the Green Forest where
they said Paddy the Beaver was at work. He didn't believe a word
of it, but he would see for himself.
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 them down with his
hands.
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