water springs, and had remained open through 
most of the winter. Now they were daily 
increasing in size, for the frost was slowly 
relaxing its grip. 
Evidences of more kindly weather were to 
be seen along the shore also. There, threads 
of tender green showed themselves among the 
brown grasses, and the hues of the mosses 
were subtly enlivened, sure token of an awak¬ 
ening year. In the aspens, the willows, and 
the birches, which fringed the shores of the 
pond, the sap pulsed daily higher, swelling 
the buds with the promise of a renewed fol¬ 
iage. Even the pines seemed to feel the new 
influence, and to brood less darkly over the 
forest. 
The bear still slept in his winter den, and 
the magpies that chattered from the spruces had 
as yet only the squirrels to answer them, for 
the songsters lingered in the lowlands. Soon, 
however, these too would arrive to fill the 
woods with their melody; for, although the 
nightwind keened shrilly through the forest, 
daytime skies were friendly, and the “honk- 
honk” of northing geese was frequent over the 
valley. 
Of all these changes, however, O-Go, the 
beaver, was ignorant, for like his brother Ilg, 
and his sister Ela, he was only three days old. 
O-Go knew only that there was comfort in 
16 
